SAINT-LOUIS – The highest prosecutor in St. Louis County said Thursday that he would not lay charges against the former police officer who killed Michael Brown in 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri.
The move risks reopening old wounds in Missouri and elsewhere in the United States, where the movement to denounce racial injustices and the treatment of minorities by the police has gained momentum in the wake of the high-profile death of George Floyd in May in Minnesota.
Almost six years ago, a grand jury refused to indict Darren Wilson, the white cop who shot dead 18-year-old black Michael Brown. Civil rights activists and the young man’s mother were hopeful that prosecutor Wesley Bell, the county’s first black prosecutor, would reopen the case after he took office in January 2019.
Mr Bell announced his decision on Thursday after quietly reviewing the case.
Claiming that his announcement was “one of the most difficult things (he) had to do,” the prosecutor explained that after studying witness statements, forensic reports and legal reports for five months. other evidence to determine if his office could prove ex-Agent Wilson had committed murder or manslaughter, his office had come to the conclusion that there was no way to prove it.
Months of riots
Michael Brown’s death at the hands of police in August 2014 had sparked months of unrest in Ferguson and made this suburb of St. Louis the symbol of a national debate over the treatment of blacks by the police. The Ferguson riots had helped solidify the “Black Lives Matter” movement, which began after the death of Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old black man, shot dead by a white neighborhood warden in Florida in 2012.
The movement has seen a resurgence of activity since the death of George Floyd in May. Images of a white policeman holding the black man to the ground with one knee at the back of his neck for nearly eight minutes have toured the world and sparked widespread outrage. Demonstrations have been organized in many cities across the United States, including Ferguson, to denounce police action in Mr. Floyd’s death.
Prosecutor Bell faced no restrictions in re-examining the circumstances surrounding Michael Brown’s death. Constable Wilson has never been charged or tried in this case.
Mr Wilson resigned from the police force days after learning that the grand jury would not lay charges against him. The federal Department of Justice also declined to charge Wilson, but released a damning report on racial prejudice in Ferguson police and courts.
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