Much calmer night in Ferguson

FERGUSON, Missouri -- State militia reinforcements helped contain the latest protests in Ferguson, preventing a second night of the chaos that led to arson and looting after a grand jury decided not to indict the white police officer who killed an unarmed black 18-year-old, a case that has inflamed racial tensions in the U.S.

Demonstrators returned Tuesday to the riot-scarred streets of the St. Louis suburb. But with hundreds of additional troops standing watch over neighborhoods and businesses, the protests had far less destructive power than the previous night. However, officers still used some tear gas and pepper spray, and demonstrators set a squad car on fire and broke windows at City Hall.

As the tension in Ferguson eased somewhat, officer Darren Wilson broke his long public silence, insisting on national television that he could not have done anything differently in the confrontation with Michael Brown.

Michael Brown Sr. and Lesley McSpadden, the parents of Michael Brown Jr., and their attorney Benjamin Crump joined "CBS This Morning" on Wednesday. McSpadden said that her son doesn't have a history of violence and she was not convinced by Wilson's account.

"I don't believe a word of it. I know my son far too well," she said. "He would never provoke anyone to do anything to him and he wouldn't do anything to anybody."

She added: "If something happened in that store - and that's a big if - that could have been dealt with but you didn't have to do what you did."

The Browns also said that no Ferguson officials ever approached them to offer condolences.

"We've just been disrespected all the way around," Brown Sr. said.

The decision announced Monday night means Wilson faces no state criminal charges in the Aug. 9 shooting in Ferguson, which reignited debates over relations between police and minority communities, even in cities far from Ferguson.

The toll from Monday's protests - 12 commercial buildings burned to the ground, plus eight other blazes and a dozen vehicles torched - prompted Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon to send a large contingent of extra National Guard state militia troops.

The governor ordered the initial force of 700 to be increased to 2,200 in hopes that their presence would help local law enforcement keep order.

"Lives and property must be protected," Nixon said. "This community deserves to have peace."

Guard units protected the Ferguson Police Department and left crowd control, arrests and use of tear gas to local officers. In one commercial area Wednesday morning, a soldier was stationed at every few storefronts, and some were on rooftops.

Forty-five people were arrested, most for failure to disperse. Outside police headquarters, one woman was taken into custody after protesters hurled what appeared to be smoke bombs, flares and frozen water bottles at a line of officers. Several other protesters were arrested after defying police instructions to get out of the street or out of the way of police vehicles.

There was some looting but no major fires, reports CBS St. Louis affiliate KMOV-TV.

Protesters threw rocks, tent poles, and bottles - some containing urine - at officers. As the crowd dispersed early Wednesday, some threw rocks through the windows of a muffler shop and a used-car dealership near a painted mural that read "Peace for Ferguson."

Capt. Ron Johnson with the Missouri State Highway Patrol told CBS News correspondent Vladimir Duthiers that the actions of some have been counterproductive.

"Change doesn't come because of destruction," Johnson said. "You wake up this morning and what has changed? What has changed is that a community is ruined."

Some streets that had been overrun the previous night were deserted, except for the occasional police cruiser or National Guard vehicle. Some Guard crews monitored empty parking lots.

Other large demonstrations were held across the U.S. for a second day. Hundreds of Seattle high school students walked out of classes, and several hundred people marched down a Cleveland freeway ramp to block rush-hour traffic. In New York, thousands of people marched for a second night in Manhattan, gathering in Union Square before splitting into several smaller groups, chanting "No justice, No peace" and blocking traffic.

During an interview with ABC News, Wilson said he has a clean conscience because "I know I did my job right."

Wilson, 28, had been with the Ferguson police force for less than three years before the Aug. 9 shooting. He told ABC that Brown's shooting was the first time he had fired his gun on the job.

Asked whether the encounter would have unfolded the same way if Brown had been white, Wilson said yes.

Wilson said in his grand jury testimony that he feared for his life during his confrontation with Brown, which he blamed on the big teenager, saying the theft suspect reached through his driver's side window, hit him in the face, called him a "pussy" and tried grabbing his gun. Wilson then got off a shot that went through Brown's hand, the only bullet that hit Brown at close range.

Wilson told ABC he felt like it was his duty to chase Brown after the confrontation at his police vehicle. When asked about witness accounts that Brown at one point turned toward Wilson and put his hands up, he responded "that would be incorrect." Brown fell to the ground about 153 feet (46 meters) from Wilson's vehicle, fatally wounded by the last of the seven bullets that struck his body.

Public attention to the killing has frequently focused on the fact that Brown was unarmed. But whether or not Brown had a weapon makes little difference under Missouri law, which says police can act with deadly force when they believe it is necessary to arrest a person who may "endanger life or inflict serious physical injury."

Attorneys for the Brown family vowed to push for federal civil rights charges against Wilson.

They said the grand jury process was rigged from the start to clear the white officer. They criticized everything from the types of evidence St. Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch presented to the jury to the way it was presented and the timing of the grand jury's decision. Attorney Anthony Gray suggested McCulloch presented some testimony, including from witnesses who did not see the shooting, to discredit the process.

Federal investigations of police misconduct face a steep legal standard, requiring proof that an officer willfully violated a victim's civil rights. That is a high bar especially considering the wide latitude given to police officers in using deadly force.

Testimony from Wilson that he felt threatened, and physical evidence almost certainly complicates any efforts to seek federal charges.

The Justice Department has also launched a broad probe into the Ferguson Police Department, looking for patterns of discrimination.

Attorney General Eric Holder said the department aims to complete those investigations as quickly as possible "to restore trust, to rebuild understanding and to foster cooperation between law enforcement and community members."

Regardless of the outcome of the federal investigations, Brown's family also could file a wrongful-death civil lawsuit against Wilson.