Ferguson Grand Jury Does Not Indict Officer Darren Wilson
The Grand Jury in Ferguson made up of 9 whites and 3 blacks, found Officer Darren Wilson NOT GUILTY. Officer Darren Wilson will not be indicted.
It's been more than 3½ months since Officer Darren Wilson, murdered unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown. Officer Wilson shot and killed the teen after a confrontation in the middle of the street in a St. Louis suburb as neighbors and passerby looked on. I'm sorry to say, I am not shocked by the verdict. There seems to be no justice for black men, who are continuously being gunned down. Whether it be by vigilantes citing "stand your ground" laws or trigger happy police officers, who shoot first an ask questions later. This keeps happening to JUST black men in this country. There is no denying America has a MAJOR problem.
Unfortunately, black men dying at the hands of police has become the norm here in the United States. They are "ENDANGERED SPECIES". According to federal data taken from 2010 to 2012, black men between the ages of 15 to 19 were murdered at 31.37 per million, while their white counterparts died at a rate of only 1.47 per million at the hands of police. Some would like to believe, race has nothing to do with the shootings, but we all know it does.
Colin Loftin, of the University at Albany professor and co-director of the Violence Research Group, said the FBI data is just a minimum count of homicides by police. Yet Loftin admitted race plays a part in almost every instance saying, there's "no question, there are all kinds of racial disparities across our criminal justice system," he said of the police killings, "this is one example."
According to CNN, the facts as we know them; Aug. 9th 18-year Michael Brown was unarmed when Officer Darren Wilson shot him several times killing him.
Several eye witness accounts are that Wilson continued to fire his weapon after Brown put his hands up and surrendered. While Wilson's supporters believe his claims of Brown being the aggressor. The officer says the teenager tried to take his gun while he was in his vehicle and that he fired in self-defense.
Ed Magee, a spokesman for the Prosecuting Attorney's Office told CNN, the 12-member grand jury was to decide whether or not to charge Wilson with one of several crimes. The charges included everything from: first-degree murder, second-degree murder, voluntary manslaughter or involuntary manslaughter.
CNN reports the grand jury could have issued an indictment on any of the above charges, even add a charge of armed criminal action, or simply not indict Wilson at all. They also had to take into account the Missouri statutes for self-defense and use of deadly force by police.
The Ferguson grand jury included nine white people (six men and three women) and only three black people (two women and one man).
For three months the city and nation have been on edge, as protesters cried out for justice. Ahead of today's grand jury decision, Missouri governor declared a state of emergency and activated the National Guard. Authorities, religious leaders and lawyers for the Brown family encouraged both police and protesters to stay calm.
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