Justin Department won’t charge officer, but urges Ferguson police reform

FERGUSON, Mo. – Months after the killing of an unarmed black man by a white policeman convulsed this city and led to protests across the nation, the Justice Department decided not to charge the officer but called for substantial change in the police department, which investigators found had engaged in a pattern of racial abuse against African-Americans.

In two reports released Wednesday, the Justice Department suggested 26 recommendations for the police department and the local courts, including added sensitivity training for officers and a ban on ticketing and arrest quotas that targeted blacks.

The department said it chose not to charge Darren Wilson, the white officer, because there was no evidence that he willfully deprived Michael Brown of his rights by using force beyond what police are legally empowered to use. The report found no evidence to disprove Wilson’s testimony to a St. Louis County grand jury that he feared for his safety during the Aug. 9 confrontation. The grand jury declined to file charges, setting off a second wave of violent demonstrations in November.

Nor could investigators find credible witnesses and evidence to back up claims that Brown was shot as he tried to surrender and had raised his hands – a contention that inspired protesters’ slogan, “Hands up, don’t shoot!”

Ferguson Mayor James Knowles III told reporters at an evening news conference that the city had begun making changes in the police and court systems to respond to the Justice Department’s findings.

One police department employee has been fired and two others are on administrative leave awaiting a final ruling on their fate in connection with a series of racist emails exchanged by city workers, he said. One of the emails compared President Barack Obama to a chimpanzee.

“Let me be clear,” the mayor said. “This kind of behavior will not be tolerated in the Ferguson Police Department or … in the city of Ferguson.”

Earlier in the day, Brown’s parents, Lesley McSpadden and Michael Brown Sr., said their son’s death would not be in vain if it brought change.

“While we are saddened by this decision, we are encouraged that the DOJ will hold the Ferguson Police Department accountable for the pattern of racial bias and profiling they found in their handling of interactions with people of color,” the parents’ statement said. “It is our hope that through this action, true change will come not only in Ferguson, but around the country. If that change happens, our son’s death will not have been in vain.”

While nights of protests over Wilson’s actions drew hundreds of protesters in recent months in Ferguson, only about 30 braved sub-freezing weather to gather Wednesday night outside the suburb’s police station, at times blocking traffic. Four people who refused multiple warnings from police to clear the road were handcuffed and taken into custody around 10 p.m.

By 10:30 p.m., most of the protesters had dispersed.

The reports mark the end of one of the highest-profile cases during the tenure of Attorney General Eric Holder, the first African-American to lead the Justice Department. Holder had visited Ferguson during the tempestuous days after the shooting.

“Some of those protesters were right,” Holder said, adding the phrase to his prepared text as he announced the findings Wednesday.

Holder has been criticized by conservatives for being too sympathetic to the protesters and too quick to step into the controversy over Wilson, who left the Ferguson Police Department last year.

The decision not to prosecute Wilson had been expected. Officials in recent weeks said the case did not meet the higher standards required for a federal civil rights prosecution.

The Justice Department report described a widespread pattern of racial discrimination that had turned Ferguson into a “powder keg” by the time the local grand jury declined to indict Wilson. Although Holder said violence is never justified, he said the “highly toxic environment, defined by mistrust and resentment,” contributed to the unrest.