Michael Brown: Ferguson Officer Won’t Be Charged for 2014 Killing
BBC, July 31, 2020
Prosecutors in the US city of St Louis have said they will not bring charges against a former police officer who shot dead a black teenager in 2014.
The killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson triggered weeks of protests.
It also led to the founding of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Prosecutors said a five-month re-examination of the case had not found enough evidence to bring charges of murder or manslaughter against the former officer, Darren Wilson.
In 2015 the Justice Department concluded that he had fired in self-defence.
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What’s the latest?
The findings after a re-examination of the case found, once again, that Mr Wilson should not be charged.
“Can we prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a crime occurred?” new prosecutor, Wesley Bell, told a press conference. “The answer to that is no.”
However, Mr Bell said the investigation could not exonerate the officer, who stepped down soon after the killing.
“There are so many points at which Darren Wilson could have handled the situation differently, and if he had, Michael Brown might still be alive,” he said.
The announcement comes as protests continue against racism and police brutality following the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in May.
