As people stood outside of the courthouse, some with their faces covered, blasting loud music screaming “F–k the police,” the decision that they feared was revealed.
It was announced by prosecutor Bob McCulloch (Nov. 24) at a press conference that no probable cause was found to indict police officer Darren Wilson on charges for the death of 18-year-old Michael Brown. Wilson fatally shot Brown on Aug. 9th in Ferguson, MO.
Before McCulloch revealed the decision, he said many accounts given by witnesses conflicted with the physical evidence or completely refuted the physical evidence and the autopsy. He said many said that they saw Wilson stand over Brown and shoot him in the back. His autopsy results showed that he had no gun shot wounds to his back. There were three autopsies conducted and they were all consistent, McCulloch says. Witnesses later revealed that they gave accounts of hearsay or what they thought happened.
The jury consists of six white men, three white women, two black women and one black man picked randomly in May before the incident occurred.
Since there will be no trial, the testimonies will be released as well as audio of the final ten shots fired during the incident. Wilson is reportedly resigning from the police force.
The city of Ferguson anticipated this decision would provoke another round of riots and have taken cautionary actions. The city was locked down today, with people leaving work early, stores closing, even the public mail system being shut down. Schools are also closed tomorrow (Nov. 25).
