FERGUSON, Mo. -- The protests here may have begun as a response to the shooting of an unarmed African-American teenager, Michael Brown, at the hands of a white police officer. But as they have stretched into their second week, the protests have also served to highlight long-simmering issues of police militarization and racial profiling.
On Monday night, a 21-year-old man described how, one night before the protests, he was walking down the street and talking on the phone when an officer noticed him.
"How am I a suspect?" the man said he thought to himself. "I'm just on the phone."
After turning away for a minute to continue his call, the man said a gun was suddenly pointed in his face. The police ordered him to put his hands up.
But as he hung up and tried to put his phone in his pocket, he said an officer began shouting, "He's got a gun! He's got a gun!"
"I didn't have a gun!" the man said, incredulous.
The officer replied, "I want you to have a gun, because I'm going to beat your ass."
Watch the entire story above.