'She's having a heart attack!' - Ferguson police 'fire rubber bullets' into crowd carrying unconscious woman

A still from the video footage of the Ferguson protests shot by a journalist for the news site Fusion. Photo / Fusion

Footage has emerged of the moment police seemingly fired tear gas and rubber bullets into a crowd of protesters carrying an apparently unconscious woman in Ferguson.

The group can be seen advancing towards a line of police officers carrying the woman and shouting: "She's having a heart attack! She needs help!"

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A member of the crowd can then be heard to say "don't shoot" moments before tear gas and rubber bullets appear to be fired into the crowd. As the bullets are fired an officer can be heard to say: "Back up. We will get her."

The crowd then begins to disperse, covering their mouths as smoke fills the air.

The incident, witnessed by Fusion journalist Tim Pool, occurred on the first night of protests in Ferguson after a grand jury decided not to indict white police officer Darren Wilson who killed unarmed black teenager Michael Brown.

http://fusion.net/video/30054/last-nights-footage-watch-how-ferguson-descended-into-chaos/

Protests were held in cities across the US on Tuesday during a second night of demonstrations following the grand jury verdict.

As more than 2000 National Guard troops were deployed in a bid to prevent rioting and looting in the St Louis area, demonstrations against the decision taken in Ferguson, Missouri, swelled from Los Angeles to Washington.

Missouri Governor Jay Nixon ordered the initial force of 700 National Guard troops to be increased to 2,200 after 12 commercial buildings were burned to the ground during Monday's protests.

The first night of protests also saw eight other blazes and a dozen vehicles torched.

"Lives and property must be protected," Nixon said. "This community deserves to have peace."

Meanwhile, as the tensions appeared to ease in Ferguson, officer Darren Wilson spoke on national television, declaring he could not have done anything differently in the confrontation with Mr Brown.

Following the decision on Monday, Officer Wilson will face no state criminal charges for the shooting, which took place on 9 August.

- With AP