It was announced late Saturday night that Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson has officially resigned from the Ferguson Police Department. Wilson was the white police officer who shot unarmed black teen Michael Brown last August. This past week saw the outbreak of violence and looting as a grand jury refused to indict Wilson on any criminal charges.
Wilson emerged from seclusion after the grand jury decision and gave an interview where he claims that Brown was the aggressor in the encounter. Wilson states, “He gets to about 8 or 10 feet, and as he does that he kind of starts to lean forward, like he’s going to tackle me. And I look down the barrel of my gun and I fired and what I saw was his head, and that’s where (the bullet) went.” Wilson goes on to state that he had a clean conscious and “I know I did my job right.”
The text of Wilson’s resignation is as follows:
“I, Darren Wilson, hereby resign my commission as a police officer with the City of Ferguson effective immediately. 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. I would like to thank all of my supporters and fellow officers throughout this process.”
Despite his resignation, Wilson still may face federal civil rights charges for killing Brown. In addition, the parents of Michael Brown may file a civil lawsuit for wrongful death against Wilson.
