The owner of a mobile phone store looted and destroyed twice during the riots in Ferguson says Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon owes shop owners an apology for not protecting them during the second round of racial unrest last week.
"I would like to hear at least an apology. A lot of folks, a lot of businesses are talking about suing the state and stuff like that. I don't know if I want to go that far, but I just want somebody to show that they care and somebody to take responsibility," Sonny Dayan, owner of STL Wireless, said Monday on "The Steve Malzberg Show" on
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"It's okay to make a mistake, but take the responsibility, don't pass it along … We don't want to hear that. We want somebody to take responsibility."
Nixon has been under fire for not initially deploying the National Guard when the announcement — that a grand jury had decided not to charge Police Officer Darren Wilson in the fatal shooting of Michael Brown — was made last week.
"The first time around in August [when Brown was killed], we had some looting and break-ins and things were stolen, but it was on a different scale than what we experienced last week," Dayan said.
"Last week, it was just an act of anger and you can tell by the devastating evidence that they have left behind, from showcases broken, glass … all busted and broken.
"It's not enough that they broke the showcase, they tilted it over and pushed it around just to show that there's just a little extra anger going on that way."
Dayan said while the community has carried out "a lot of beautiful acts of kindness" to help him in the aftermath, he is still incredulous that it happened at all.
"I am extremely disappointed, I'm angry, I don't think we deserve that. I mean we citizens do and we work very hard to achieve what we achieved," Dayan said.
"We were fooled into thinking that we were secure and safe but when the time came, there was nobody to protect us. It was all words and I don't know what they thought.
"I'm angry but I'm not going to come in and just say the police didn't do their job because it's really hard for me to say something like that."
Dayan said he did not board his store up during the second disturbance.
"We had customers that were coming to us and thanking us for not boarding up because they wanted some sort of normality. They wanted to walk around their neighborhood and not have to see everything boarded up," he said.
"They wanted to see their regular stores open and some sort of a normal life … So I put my faith in the public and most of the people that I know – I've been here for 18 years – are wonderful, caring people.
"I just didn't see it coming to that extent, especially when the governor and the rest of the police officers and all are telling us that we are secured and they are trained and ready for whatever comes."
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