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Michael Brown shooting: New investigation agrees with 2015 one, will not charge former cop Darren Wilson

The case was reviewed by a new St Louis prosecutor Wesley Bell, who spent about five months looking into the evidence against Wilson charging him of manslaughter or murder

Much before the death of the 46-year-old Black man George Floyd, the killing of the 18-year-old Black man Michael Brown on August 9, 2014, by former police officer Darren Wilson had led to similar unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, where Brown was shot dead, following an alleged altercation between him and Wilson. Protesters claimed that the officer charged Brown despite him surrendering himself. 

On November 24, 2014, St Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch announced that the grand jury had decided not to indict Wilson after providing them with a row of evidence. In March 2015, the US Department of Justice concluded that Wilson shot Brown in self-defense and cleared the former police officer of civil rights violation in the shooting. 

The case was reviewed by a new St Louis prosecutor Wesley Bell, who spent about five months looking into the evidence against Wilson charging him of manslaughter or murder. On Thursday, July 30, NBC reported that Wilson would not be charged with any crime. Bell stated, “Our investigation does not exonerate Darren Wilson. Because of the significance of this case to this community and because the family asked, I believed it was necessary to conduct a reexamination of the evidence in the case and come to our own conclusion.”

He further added, “The question for this office was a simple one: Could we prove beyond a reasonable doubt that when Darren Wilson shot Michael Brown he committed murder or manslaughter under Missouri law. After an independent and in-depth review of the evidence, we cannot conclude that he did.”

Following Brown’s shooting, the police had accused Brown as the primary suspect in the robbery of a convenience store, minutes before he was shot to death by Wilson. Brown’s family had later issued a statement saying the police officer “intended to assassinate the character of their son.” It also read, “There is nothing based on the facts that have been placed before us that can justify the execution-style murder of their child by this police officer as he held his hands up, which is the universal sign of surrender. The prolonged release of the officer's name and then the subsequent alleged information regarding a robbery is the reason why the family and the local community have such distrust for the local law enforcement agencies”, reports NBC. 

The re-investigation and latest conclusion of the Ferguson shooting have garnered mixed reactions on Twitter. While some users believe Wilson should be brought to justice, many have established that Brown’s case isn’t a “straightforward case of police abuse.” One user tweeted, “No bias here. '...the WHITE former police officer...' Pic of Michael looking like an 11 year old. Btw, anyone getting upset, look into the actual details of the case. It's terrible that a young man lost his life, but this was not a straightforward case of police abuse.” 

Another added, "Professionally trained darren wilson kills unarmed human and won't go to prison So a different kind of justice is required? Understood."

While another user noted, "You don’t know? The systemic racism that still plagues our country. Just today the cop that killed Michael Brown was charged with no crime. That’s not ok and we see hundreds if not thousands of examples of systemic racism that has not been fixed around the country."