Policeman not to face charges in black youth's death

Washington, March 5
The US Justice Department has said that it will not bring federal civil rights charges against Ferguson, Missouri police officer Darren Wilson for the fatal shooting of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown, Efe news agency reported.

According to a departmental report released on Wednesday, prosecutors did not find that the actions of Wilson, who is white, constituted sufficient grounds to indict him for federal civil rights violations.

"After a careful and deliberative review of all of the evidence, the department has determined that the evidence does not establish that Darren Wilson violated the applicable federal criminal civil rights statute. The family of Michael Brown was notified earlier today of the department's findings," read the report, thus backing up the officer's version of the incident and confirming that he acted out of fear for his life when he shot Brown multiple times.

Thus, the federal department closed the case regarding alleged violations of Brown's civil rights which had been opened after a grand jury on November 24 decided not to indict Wilson, who has since resigned from the Ferguson police.

After that decision, thousands of people took to the streets nationwide and Ferguson once again experienced protests of the kind that had been staged during the two weeks following Brown's August 9 death.

The Justice Department on Wednesday also presented the conclusions of another report in which it accuses the Ferguson police of racial discrimination for making traffic stops, unwarranted arrests and using excessive force targeting members of the town's African American community.

"This investigation found a community that was deeply polarised, and where deep distrust and hostility often characterized interactions between police and area residents," said Attorney General Eric Holder.

"Our investigation showed that Ferguson police officers routinely violate the Fourth Amendment in stopping people without reasonable suspicion, arresting them without probable cause, and using unreasonable force against them," the report continued.

The report also states that over the past two years, African Americans living in Ferguson, and making up 67 percent of the population there, were the targets of 85 percent of the traffic stops, 93 percent of the arrests and 88 percent of the cases in which police used force.

Earlier this week, President Barack Obama urged police departments across the US to make changes to regain the trust lost among minority communities after receiving the recommendations of a working group created following the Ferguson disturbances.