By Zenitha Prince
Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from the Afro American Newspaper
(Trice Edney Wire) – The U.S. Department of Justice will not file civil rights charges against former Ferguson, Mo., Officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of unarmed Black teenager Michael Brown, The New York Times reported this week.
The Justice Department declined comment on the report. However, the publication cited officials who said Justice prosecutors are preparing a memo recommending that no charges be filed against Wilson, after an FBI investigation apparently found no evidence supporting such charges.
The outcome mirrors that of a parallel but independent probe by Missouri state law enforcement, which resulted in a St. Louis grand jury declining to file charges against Wilson in November.
The development could signal an end to the highly explosive case that spawned protests, a national debate around the use of excessive force by police against African Americans and ongoing social activism.
Benjamin Crump, a lawyer for Brown’s family, said the family is awaiting official word from the Justice Department before they make any comment.
“The family won’t address speculation from anonymous sources,” Crump said in a statement posted on Twitter.
While the Justice Department’s civil rights probe into Wilson’s actions may be completed, the federal agency is still pursuing a broader civil rights investigation into the Ferguson Police Department’s alleged patterns and practices of discrimination against the city’s majority Black population.
