FERGUSON, Missouri, — Citing security fears, Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson, who fatally shot unarmed teenager Michael Brown on Aug. 9, has resigned from the police department.
Wilson, 28, who on Monday was cleared by a grand jury investigating the shooting, had been a Ferguson policeman for six years.
Brown’s shooting sparked protests that continued this weekend. Wilson had been on paid administrative leave since the shooting.
On Tuesday,Wilson told ABC News that Brown was the aggressor in the minutes before the shooting. In an account that generally mirrored his testimony before the grand jury, Wilson said Brown attacked him while the officer sat in his car, and then fled. Wilson said he chased after Brown until Brown turned back toward him, refusing Wilson’s commands to stop.
Wilson denied some witness claims that Brown had had his hands up. “That would be incorrect,” Wilson said.
As Brown approached, Wilson said, he warned Brown to stop. When he didn’t stop, Wilson fired his handgun.
“I had to. If I don’t, he will kill me if he gets to me,” Wilson said.
Brown, who had been hit, continued to come toward Wilson, the officer claims. Wilson fired again and began backing away.
“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’s resignation letter reads:
“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.”
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC