Former Philadelphia Police Captain Joins Ferguson Protestors -- Wearing Old Uniform
By Pat Loeb
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - A retired Philadelphia Police officer is spending the holiday weekend in Ferguson, Missouri, to join protestors demonstrating against police action in the Michael Brown case.
And he's attracting attention because he is protesting wearing his old uniform.
Ray Lewis retired in 2004 as captain of the 25th district and spent the next eight years living in relative isolation in the Catskills.
But the Occupy movement struck a chord and he went to lend his support -- in uniform -- prompting objections from the Philadelphia Police commissioner and the police union.
Unbowed, he's in uniform, again, in Ferguson.
"White middle-class America loves a cop and they love a captain and I protest to get my message across to white America that things are not as you believe them to be," he tells KYW Newsradio.
Lewis believes most media coverage has sensationalized and distorted the Ferguson protests and thinks flaunting his background while standing with the community is one way to correct the picture.
