The Justice Department is preparing to close the investigation into the shooting death of an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson, Mo., and clear the white police officer involved.
Officer Darren Wilson, 28, was not indicted of any civil rights charges by the St. Louis County grand jury. He said he was acting in self-defense when he fatally shot 18-year-old Michael Brown, who was unarmed, on Aug. 9, 2014.
The confrontation has been widely debated for months, with some witnesses testifying that Brown had his hands up in surrender when he was shot, and Wilson saying that Brown had charged at him and tried to grab his gun through the window of his police car. Wilson’s account was supported by bruises and DNA evidence.
Law enforcement officials said that federal prosecutors had begun work on a legal memo recommending no civil rights charges against Wilson, after an FBI investigation concluded in November found no evidence to support charges against him.
The Justice Department declined to comment, but plans to release a report explaining their decision. They are still conducting a probe into the Ferguson Police Department, looking into allegations of discriminatory traffic stops and use of excessive force by the officers. That investigation could lead to significant changes within the department, which is overwhelmingly white, despite serving a city that is mostly black.
Attorney General Eric Holder and his civil rights chief, Vanita Gupta, will have the final say on whether the Justice Department will close the case against Wilson. It would be unusual for them to overrule the prosecutors on the case, who are still working on a legal memo explaining their recommendation of no civil rights charges.
“We’ve heard speculation on cases before that didn’t turn out to be true,” said Benjamin L. Crump, a lawyer for Brown’s family, who did not comment on the investigation until the Justice Department made an official announcement. “It’s too much to put the family through to respond to every rumor.”
Since the event, Wilson has resigned from the Ferguson police force, citing threats against fellow officers after the grand jury’s decision.
The Ferguson shooting became one of the most racially-charged cases in the history of the US, leading to months of protests and civil disobedience in the small town, and prompting a national debate on modern racism and police brutality.
(With reports from Reuters and the New York Times)
