ST. LOUIS (AP) — The Ferguson, Missouri, police officer who was badly injured during a protest on the 10th anniversary of Michael Brown's death was moved to a rehabilitation hospital Tuesday, still not speaking but showing significant improvement, according to a family friend.
More than 100 officers and first responders from several St. Louis-area departments escorted an ambulance that took Officer Travis Brown from St. Louis University Hospital to Spirit of St. Louis Airport in Chesterfield, Missouri. He was flown to a rehab center in Atlanta. “Survival flight” was written on the side of the small plane.
Family friend Terence Monroe said Brown has still not spoken since he was knocked backward by a protester on Aug. 9, but is “cognitively all there," the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
Brown's cousin Ebonie Davis said the officer went through a difficult period.
“And then to see it all turn around — God is amazing," Davis said. "We’re looking forward to him getting stronger and getting back to the TJ we know and love. This is a big day for our family.”
Brown underwent several surgeries to address swelling and fluid on his brain. The man accused in the attack, 28-year-old Elijah Gantt of East St. Louis, Illinois, is awaiting trial on several charges.
Ferguson became synonymous with the national Black Lives Matter movement after Michael Brown, a Black 18-year-old, was killed by Officer Darren Wilson on Aug. 9, 2014. Travis Brown is not related to Michael Brown.
Three separate investigations found no grounds to prosecute Wilson, who resigned in November 2014. But Michael Brown’s death led to months of often violent protests. It also spurred a U.S. Department of Justice investigation that required anti-discrimination changes to Ferguson policing and the courts.
Toward the end of a day honoring Brown on the anniversary of his death, some of the few remaining demonstrators began shaking and damaging a fence outside the police station, prompting Travis Brown and other officers to begin making arrests.
Police released body camera and surveillance video that appeared to show Gantt charging Brown on a sidewalk. Brown fell and struck the back of his head. Both Brown and Gantt are Black.
Ferguson Sgt. Jill Gronewald tears up as she join hundreds of family, friends and fellow officers as they send off injured Ferguson police officer Travis Brown to a specialized rehabilitation hospital Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024, at Spirit of St. Louis airport in Chesterfield, Mo. (Laurie Skrivan/St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP)
St. Louis County police officers Ashley Wallace, left, and Shawntice Midgett, join hundreds of family, friends and fellow officers as they send off injured Ferguson police officer Travis Brown to a specialized rehabilitation hospital Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024, at Spirit of St. Louis airport in Chesterfield, Mo. (Laurie Skrivan/St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP)
Jasmine Brown, the mother of injured Ferguson police officer Travis Brown's two daughters, joins hundreds of family, friends and fellow officers as they send off officer Travis Brown to a specialized rehabilitation hospital on Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024, at Spirit of St. Louis airport in Chesterfield, Mo. Brown was injured during the 10 year Ferguson anniversary protest. (Laurie Skrivan/St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP)
PARIS (AP) — The appeal trial of French far-right leader Marine Le Pen opened in Paris on Tuesday, with her 2027 presidential bid hanging on the outcome of the case.
Le Pen, 57, is seeking to overturn a March ruling that found her guilty of misusing European Parliament funds. She was slapped with a five-year ban from holding elected office and two years of house arrest with an electronic bracelet.
She says she’s innocent.
The appeal trial is scheduled to last for five weeks, with a verdict expected at a later date.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
PARIS (AP) — France’s far-right leader Marine Le Pen returns to court Tuesday to appeal an embezzlement conviction, with her 2027 presidential ambitions hanging on the outcome of the case.
Le Pen, 57, is seeking to overturn a March ruling that found her guilty of misusing European Parliament funds. She was slapped with a five-year ban from holding elected office, two years of house arrest with an electronic bracelet, a further two-year suspended sentence and a 100,000-euro ($116,800) fine.
“I hope I'll be able to convince the judges of my innocence,” Le Pen told reporters Monday. “It’s a new court with new judges. The case will be reset, so to speak.”
She was seen as the potential front-runner to succeed President Emmanuel Macron in the 2027 election until last year's ruling, which sent shock waves through French politics. Le Pen denounced it as “a democratic scandal.”
Her National Rally party has been coming out on top in opinion polls, and Le Pen alleged that the judicial system brought out “the nuclear bomb” to prevent her from becoming France’s president.
The appeal trial, involving Le Pen and 11 other defendants, is scheduled to last for five weeks. A panel of three judges at the appeals court in Paris is expected to announce its verdict at a later date, possibly before summer.
Several scenarios are possible, from acquittal to another conviction that may or may not bar her from running in 2027. She could also face up to 10 years in prison and a 1-million euro ($1.17 million) fine.
In March, Le Pen and other party officials were convicted of using money intended for EU parliamentary assistants who instead had other duties between 2004 and 2016, in violation of EU rules. Some actually did work for the party, known as the National Front at the time, in French domestic politics, the court said.
In handing down the sentence, the judge said Le Pen was at the heart of a “system” set up to siphon off EU parliament funds — including to pay for her bodyguard and her chief of staff.
All denied wrongdoing, and Le Pen argued the money was used in a legitimate way. The judge said Le Pen and the others did not enrich themselves personally.
The legal proceedings initially stemmed from a 2015 alert raised by Martin Schulz, then-president of the European Parliament, to French authorities.
The case and its fallout weigh heavily on Le Pen’s political future after more than a decade spent trying to bring the far right into France’s political mainstream. Since taking over the party from her late father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, in 2011, she has sought to shed its reputation for racism and antisemitism, changing its name, expelling her father in 2015 and softening both the party’s platform and her own public image.
That strategy has paid dividends. The National Rally is now the largest single political group in France’s lower house of parliament and has built a broad network of elected officials across the country.
Le Pen stepped down as party president in 2021 to focus on the presidential race, handing the role to Jordan Bardella, now 30.
If she is ultimately prevented from running in 2027, Bardella is widely expected to be her successor. His popularity has surged, particularly among younger voters, though some within the party have questioned his leadership.
Le Pen's potential conviction would be “deeply worrying for (France's) democracy,” Bardella said Monday in a New Year address.
Far-right party National Rally president Jordan Bardella speaks during his New Year address to the press, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026 in Paris. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
Far-right leader Marine Le Pen arrives at National Rally president Jordan Bardella's New Year address to the press, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026 in Paris. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
Far-right leader Marine Le Pen, center, is framed by Louis Aliot, left, and conservative lawmaker Eric Ciotti during National Rally president Jordan Bardella's New Year address to the press, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026 in Paris. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
