It Looked Like Fire | Criminal Podcast | Forensic Files

Edward Crawford: The plan was actually, I was just going out there to be nosy. I wanted to
see what the protest was looking like because I had called my brother and he said, “They're
protesting.” And, you know, I didn't know what a protest was. Well, I knew what it was, but I had
never seen one in person. I'd read about them in school, so I wanted to see one in person.
Phoebe Judge: This is Edward Crawford. On August 11th, 2014, just a few days after
18-year-old Michael Brown was shot and killed by officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri,
Edward Crawford went to his first protest. Edward Crawford: There was a lot of people, angry.
I'd seen signs, hear people chanting, using profanity. I mean, they were mad, you know? The
emotion was at an all-time high. It was overwhelming. There were people crying.
I don't know if those relatives or friends of Mike Brown, but it was different. It was
something I never experienced in my life. Phoebe Judge: That's how he described his
first day of demonstrations. When he went back out the next night, August 12, it was a different story. Edward Crawford: The people out there, like,
they were protesting. They were angry at the police, and the police were angry at the people
that were protesting, you know? So, it's like both sides were antagonizing each other. And,
you know, the police, they were out there to do their jobs. But the people, I guess they were out there to be heard. Phoebe Judge: The police at some point,
they started lining up with riot gear. What did that look like to you? Is that when things started
to seem scary, or that things were changing? Edward Crawford: That looked like something you
see on a movie. They were very tactical, you can tell that they had been through
very prestigious training, you know? Like the formation, even when they move, they move all
on one — it seemed like they were on one beat, if that's what you call it, I don't know. But
it was organized and they were chanting, like, "Go home. This is not a lawful protest anymore. Please return home." And then, there were people saying, like, “This is home.”
Phoebe Judge: This whole scene was well-documented in the media at the time. The conflict between protesters and law enforcement reached fever-pitch.
And when the protesters refused to disperse, the police started firing at the crowd with rubber
bullets, wooden pellets, and tear gas canisters. Edward Crawford: So, when they shot the tear gas,
it landed fairly close. And the sound of, I don't know, I'm pretty sure you haven't
heard a tear gas shot. It's a loud — it sounds like a grenade is going off when it's shot.
And when it's first shot, it's, like, real smoky in the sky. And then you can follow
the smoke trail and you'll see where it lands. And it landed fairly close to me.
Phoebe Judge: What did it look like when it landed? How big is it? Like a spray paint can?
Edward Crawford: No, it's actually smaller. It's like a 12-ounce soda can. Phoebe Judge: And it was smoking? Edward Crawford: Yeah. At the time,
it looked like a fire. Phoebe Judge: What did it feel like when you picked it up?
Edward Crawford: It was room temperature. It wasn't hot. It really didn't have a distinctive
feeling, like, to where if you touch it, you will know that, OK, this is not good.
Phoebe Judge: What did you do with it? Edward Crawford: I threw it out of the way.
Phoebe Judge: You threw it just out of the way, or did you throw it... which way did you throw it?
Edward Crawford: I really didn't aim for a direction, because I didn't have time to even
think to where I was going to throw it. Phoebe Judge: But did you throw it the way that it had come? Edward Crawford: Possibly did.
Phoebe Judge: And so, the way that it had come was where the police were? Edward Crawford: I mean,
I guess you could say that. Robert Cohen: My name is Robert Cohen. I'm a staff photographer at the St. Louis
Post-Dispatch. I've been in St. Louis for 16 years. I've been a photojournalist for about 30
years. And I kind of saw it unfolding. Some of the first pictures I shot was Ed reaching down for the canister. And as he's reaching down, the sparks are flying
out of it and he actually leaves his feet. He just kind of jumps out of the way because as he's reaching down, the sparks are starting to fly and so, he
kind of jumps out of the way, and then reaches back down again and throws it. And, you know,
at this point, I'm just trying to get things in focus. And quite frankly, I'm looking at
my watch because we have a potential headline in the newspaper the next morning, which was
going to reflect something like a calm night in Ferguson. And here we are, pushing midnight
and the whole night has changed radically. Phoebe Judge: Robert hurried to his car to start
to edit the photographs he'd taken of Ed. And Ed, who had no idea he'd been photographed, hurried to
his friend's car to try to get out of there. The two men hadn't met — at least not yet, anyway.
I'm Phoebe Judge. This is Criminal. Edward Crawford: After this tear gas was shot, my friend, she was like, “OK,
let's go. It's getting dangerous, let's go.” Phoebe Judge: Ed ran through the crowds to his
friend's car, which was parked in a nearby church parking lot. The police were right behind him.
Edward Crawford: And they were yelling, "Stop!" So, I hurried up and I unlocked the car and I
locked the back as I got into the car. And now I'm on the passenger side. I tried to crawl up
to the driver's side, but at that time, I can see now that the car is surrounded, because I don't
see the light anymore. And the car was basically rocking. They were all around the car and they
were hitting it, and I guess one officer bust the window and opened the door. Then another officer grabbed me by the shirt and by the hair,
and they swung me to the ground. Phoebe Judge: Meanwhile, Robert was sitting in his
car with his laptop editing the photographs he'd taken of Ed, and rushing to get them to his editor
before the newspaper's deadline. When you look at the series — we've got them up on our site — it's
almost like a flip book. You can see Ed jumping over the burning gas canister on the ground,
the space under his feet and legs illuminated by the sparks and smoke. Then you can see the
moment where Ed reaches down with what looks like no hesitation and picks up the burning canister.
Those pictures are powerful in their own right, to see a person grab this ball of fire.
But it was one of the last pictures that Robert took that made him realize he'd captured
something special. It's Ed in a full baseball pitcher stance. His body is arched backwards,
his arms stretched out and made bright by that burning can in his hand. Robert Cohen: I did not — you know, the symbolism that holds so strong in this image,
with the exception of the act of defiance and the fighting back and all the themes a lot of
people talk about. It's held together by the fact that he's got an American flag shirt on.
I did not see that shirt. I did not see that shirt while I was photographing. You know,
all I see is a man come out of nowhere and pick up this canister and throw it back. And so,
I didn't actually appreciate that extra nugget until I was at my car whipping open my laptop,
really trying to make deadline. Phoebe Judge: Robert missed his deadline by just 15 minutes and went home. He decided to post the photo on his personal Twitter
feed and went to bed. When he woke up, he knew something was going on. He had about 8,000 new
Twitter followers. The photo had gone completely viral overnight and taken on a life of its own.
Robert Cohen: Less than 48 hours after I shot this photo, I'm at the Michael Brown Memorial and a man
shows up in a T-shirt with Ed's picture on it. And so I'm photographing this man at the memorial
dressed in my picture. It's bizarre. And since that point, there's been hundreds of
things sent to me, things sent to Ed, artists’ rendering. People will just... They decide they
want to paint this picture, and they have a need to send it to us. Two people, one in LA,
one I don't know where, had it tattooed on their body. One on their shoulder, one on their bicep.
In New Orleans, there's a big art project, and Ed is four stories tall. It's amazing
how people feel a need to reproduce it. Phoebe Judge: Not only has the photograph
that Robert took of Ed become an iconic image of the Ferguson protest, it was also part of a group
of photographs taken after the shooting of Michael Brown by photographers at the St. Louis Dispatch
that would go on to win the Pulitzer Prize. Edward Crawford: You know, a lot of people see the
image and they don't know it's me, but me knowing it's me, and I just sit back and think like, “Wow,
they really appreciate this picture.” And to some extent I feel like, “OK, well,
they appreciate me because they feel what I did was right.” So, I'm cool with it. Phoebe Judge:
On the one-year anniversary of Michael Brown's death, this past August, people in Ferguson gathered once again for what started off, by all accounts,
as a peaceful demonstration. On the night of the second day of protest however, things escalated
between the police and protesters once again. And Robert Cohen was back out there with his camera.
Robert Cohen: The police came out very aggressively that night, and they were moving protesters out of the street much more aggressively than they were before.
Phoebe Judge: Robert says he was standing with a group of protesters who had, for the most part,
complied with the officers' requests and gotten out of the street and onto the sidewalk.
Edward Crawford: But there was one protester that was still yelling at the officers pretty
loudly. And the county officer just decided to arrest him, and instead of spraying him with
pepper spray alone, he sprayed a pretty wide stream. And my body, my upper body,
was just drenched. My arms, my shirt, my hair. Phoebe Judge: He had photographed a lot of people
being tear-gassed and pepper-sprayed in Ferguson. But this was the first time he'd experienced it himself. Robert Cohen: Everywhere it was touching
me, it was burning. I mean, it's oil-based, which I did not know at the time. And so, water only
makes it worse. And I was carrying a separate lens in a little fanny pack and the lens jumped out of
the fanny pack as I probably just kind of dove out of the way. And I went to reach for the lens to
pick it up off the ground, and somebody else's hand grabs it before I grab it. And he says,
“Are you OK? Are you OK?” I was like — I didn't even see Ed, and I knew it was Ed. And look
who's bending down to help me out? It was crazy. Phoebe Judge: Ed was also at the protest, but this
time he was watching from a distance when he saw the police spray the crowd and then he saw Robert.
Almost exactly one year to the day, Robert and Ed met again. Ed, what did Robert look... Did he look like he was in bad shape?
Edward Crawford: Yeah, he looked like he had left a confetti party and it was silly string all over him, but I knew what it was. It was orange pepper spray.
And when it initially was shot, I'd seen that it had got him right in the face, but I didn't know
if he had got it in his eyes. So of course, you know, he's carrying thousands of dollars
of equipment, and at that time, he seemed very vulnerable to the typical snatch and grab which
was going on a lot down there that night. And I'd hate to see that happen to Robert. So, you know, I
kind of tried to guide him out of the way, out of the crowd, and just make sure he was all right.
Robert Cohen: And he did. Phoebe Judge: You both have come into each other's lives at rather important times. Edward Crawford: Yeah, I feel that it's true.
Because anytime I see him, he's always going to get — he's always going to get a, “Hey Robert,
how you doing? How's it going?” He's always going to be acknowledged on my end. And, you know,
that's just the utmost respect I have for him. Phoebe Judge: But the complicated thing is that
Robert's Pulitzer Prize-winning photo is also undeniable proof that Ed was the guy
who threw that tear gas canister. Edward Crawford: I'm often asked: am I mad at him for taking that picture, you know, seeing that I'm facing charges? And no,
I'm not mad. He did an amazing job. And every time I see him, I make sure I show gratitude. Because
whether he knows or not, he's changed my life. Phoebe Judge: Ed has been charged with assault
and with repeatedly failing to comply with police. He had his first court appearance in September.
Criminal is produced by Lauren Spohrer and me. Audio engineering help from Rob Byers and
Russ Henry. Julienne Alexander makes original illustrations for each episode of Criminal.
Criminal is recorded in the studios of North Carolina Public Radio, WUNC. Criminal is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX, a collective of the best shows around.
Jingle: Radiotopia, from PRX.

The first time Ed Crawford had ever been to a protest was when he heard about the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. St. Louis Post Dispatch staff photographer, Robert Cohen, ended up taking a photograph of Ed that would be seen around the world. Robert explains how that photo would end up changing his and Ed's lives forever.

*http://www.stltoday.com/gallery/news/local/metro/the-pulitzer-prize-winning-photographs-from-the-post-dispatch/collection_7a5793c3-9a55-534c-b84a-a27d6d08ef5f.html

Music in the episode: “Theme” by Blue Dot Sessions “Deserted City” by Kai Engel “Tyrano Theme” by Blue Dot Sessions “We Hear Things So Differently” by Will Bangs “Trilobite” by Podington Bear “Distill” by Podington Bear “Ray Gun” by Podington Bear

Criminal is a show about people who’ve done wrong, been wronged, or gotten caught somewhere in the middle. Hosted by Phoebe Judge. Part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.

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Episode 32 originally published 12/11/2015 https://thisiscriminal.com/episode-32-it-looked-like-fire-12-11-2015

Brief Summary

Edward Crawford recounts his experience at the Ferguson protests and the iconic photo taken by Robert Cohen of him throwing a tear gas canister.

Key points

Edward Crawford's First Protest. Edward Crawford describes his overwhelming experience at his first protest in Ferguson.
The Tear Gas Incident. Edward Crawford recalls the moment police fired tear gas at protesters, landing near him.
The Iconic Photo. Robert Cohen captures Edward Crawford throwing a tear gas canister, creating a viral image.
Meeting Again. One year later, Edward and Robert meet again during another protest, both affected by police actions.
Charges Against Ed. Edward Crawford faces charges related to the protests, reflecting on the impact of Robert's photo.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I wanted to see one in person.

Edward Crawford reflecting on his curiosity about protests.

0:17WatchNov 9, 2022

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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