Darren Wilson, the 28-year-old police officer who shot and killed young Michael Brown in August, has resigned.
This announcement comes just days after a grand jury decided not to indict him on charges of manslaughter.
“I’m resigning of my own free will. I’m not willing to let someone else get hurt because of me,” he said in a phone interview today (Nov. 29).
Wilson claims in his letter of resignation that threats were made insisting that he leave the department:
“I have been told that my continued employment may put the residents and police officers of the City of Ferguson at risk, which is a circumstance that I cannot allow. For obvious reasons, I wanted to wait until the grand jury made their decision before I officially made my decision to resign. It was my hope to continue in police work, but the safety of other police officers and the community are of paramount importance to me. It is my hope that my resignation will allow the community to heal.”
A Brown family attorney, Anthony Gray, is skeptical of Wilson’s motives.
“It’s probably in his best interest to sever his ties with the Ferguson community, as well as the Ferguson police department. I think this incident has severely compromised his ability to police in the way he was paid to do by the city,” Gray said in a statement.
Wilson has maintained, both in interviews and in his testimony to the grand jury, that he was assaulted by Brown and had no other choice but to fire his weapon.
The worldwide protests calling for justice in Brown’s name continue this weekend.
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