WARNING: Video contains graphic language. Viewer discretion advised.
FERGUSON, Mo. – Michael Brown’s stepfather consoled the dead teen’s distraught mother after Monday’s controversial grand jury announcement and then turned to the crowd of demonstrators, saying, “Burn this mother f***er down” and “Burn this b**** down,” according to a New York Times video.
The comments by Brown’s stepfather, Louis Head, came shortly before an eruption of rage by some protesters over the decision not to indict police Officer Darren Wilson in the August shooting death of 18-year-old Brown.
An entire row of businesses on West Florissant Avenue, a major thoroughfare, was engulfed in flames Monday night.
Police cars and a row of vehicles at a nearby dealership were turned into fireballs.
There were so many blazes that firefighters couldn’t reach every one.
In the New York Times video, Brown’s mother, Lesley McSpadden, is seen in the crowd Monday night in Ferguson, Missouri.
McSpadden speaks to the crowd briefly, saying she has lived in the community her whole life and never experienced anything like this.
She breaks down at one point and is comforted by Head before his outburst.
CNN is trying to reach Head for comment.
At a news conference Tuesday, an attorney for the Brown family, Benjamin Crump, said the video captured the couple’s “desperation and frustration” over the grand jury decision.
Crump said the video depicted the “raw emotion” of the moment, but added, “Don’t condemn them for being human.”
The family “understands we all have a responsibility to protect the community,” Crump said.
Ahead of the announcement about the decision, the Brown family had urged people not to react with violence and destruction.
Their lawyer said the violence that took place on the streets of Ferguson overnight was “completely inappropriate.”
Brown’s parents were expected to speak at Tuesday’s news conference but later decided not to.
Crump said Michael Brown Sr. “doesn’t want to misspeak because of such emotions that are going through him that will later be used against him.”
