Police Chief Thomas Jackson of Ferguson, Missouri, apologized to the parents of Michael Brown on Thursday, as well as protestors who were met with police force when they organized peaceful demonstrations.

Jackson said he was sorry to those who felt he didn't "protect their constitutional right to protest" and apologized for officers who took more than four hours to remove Brown's body from the street after he was shot in August.

"I'm truly sorry for the loss of your son," Jackson said during a video statement. "I'm also sorry that it took so long to remove Michael from the street."

"Please know that the investigating officers meant no disrespect to the Brown family, to the African-American community or the people in [the neighborhood where Brown was killed]," Jackson continued. "They were simply trying to do their jobs."

The police chief did say that investigators were busy collecting evidence and doing other "important work," but "it was just too long, and I'm truly sorry for that."

He then moved on to the protestors of Ferguson in his apology.

"The right of the people to peacefully assemble is what the police are here to protect," Jackson said. "If anyone who was peacefully exercising that right is upset and angry, I feel responsible and I'm sorry ... Overnight I went from being a small-town police chief to being part of a conversation about racism, equality and the role of policing in that conversation. As chief of police, I want to be part of that conversation. I also want to be part of the solution."

The St. Louis suburb of 21,000 largely settled in recent weeks except this Tuesday when one of Michael Brown's memorials at the scene of the shooting burned. Many protestors returned to demonstrate but it quickly turned violent.