Ferguson, MO – Ferguson Mayor: No Severance Package For Wilson

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    Protesters holding an image of officer Darren Wilson walk past police guarding a business in Ferguson, Missouri, November 29, 2014.  REUTERSFerguson, MO – Ferguson police Officer Darren Wilson did not receive a severance package when he resigned over the weekend, the St. Louis suburb’s mayor said Sunday.

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    Wilson, 28, won’t receive any further pay or benefits, and he and the city have severed their ties, Mayor James Knowles told reporters a day after Wilson tendered his resignation, which was effective immediately.

    Wilson, who is white, had been on administrative leave since he killed Michael Brown, an unarmed black 18-year-old, during an Aug. 9 confrontation. He wrote in his resignation letter that his “continued employment may put the residents and police officers of the City of Ferguson at risk, which is a circumstance I cannot allow.”

    His lawyer, Neil Bruntrager, told The Associated Press that Wilson decided to step aside after police Chief Tom Jackson told him about the alleged threats on Saturday.

    “The information we had was that there would be actions targeting the Ferguson (police) department or buildings in Ferguson related to the police department,” Bruntrager said. He said Wilson, who had worked for the department for less than three years, and the city were already discussing an exit strategy, acknowledging that staying on as an officer there would be impossible.

    Many have criticized the authorities’ handling of the case. When asked Sunday if there were any changes to Ferguson’s leadership planned, Knowles said there were not. Many have called on Jackson to resign, but he told reporters he doesn’t plan to do so.

    Earlier Sunday, Benjamin Crump, an attorney for Brown’s family, said Wilson’s resignation was not a surprise.

    “It was always believed that the police officer would do what was in his best interest, both personally and professionally,” Crump said. “We didn’t believe that he would be able to be effective for the Ferguson community nor the Ferguson Police Department because of the tragic circumstances that claimed the life of Michael Brown Jr.”

    Crump said the family is still considering civil litigation such as a wrongful death lawsuit, “but don’t let that get confused with the fact that they really wanted the killer of their child to be held accountable.”

    Wilson’s resignation meant little to those protesting Saturday night outside police headquarters in Ferguson, where two people were arrested. Several shrugged their shoulders when asked what they thought, and protester Rick Campbell flatly said he didn’t care about the resignation, noting: “I’ve been protesting out here since August.”

    Victoria Rutherford, a resident who was not protesting, said she believed Wilson should have not only resigned, but been convicted of a crime.

    “I’m upset. I have a 16-year-old son. It could’ve been him. I feel that he was absolutely in the wrong,” she said.

    Another resident, Reed Voorhees, said he hoped Wilson could find similar work “someplace where he would enjoy life, and move on with his life.”

    Wilson fatally shot Brown in the middle of a Ferguson street after the two scuffled inside Wilson’s police SUV. Brown’s body was left for more than four hours as police investigated and angry onlookers gathered.

    Some witnesses have said Brown had his hands up when Wilson shot him. Wilson told the grand jury that he feared for his life when Brown hit him and reached for his gun.

    The U.S. Justice Department also is conducting a civil rights investigation into the shooting and a separate investigation of police department practices. It isn’t clear when that decision will be announced.

    It isn’t clear what the future holds for Wilson, who has spent his adult life in police work and never wanted to do anything else, Bruntrager said.

    “In terms of what it (the resignation) means, it means at this point he doesn’t have a paycheck,” Bruntrager said. “He has no income so he’ll have to make some decisions pretty quickly.”


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    12 Comments
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    Mark Levin
    Mark Levin
    9 years ago

    Horrible, just plugin horrible.

    The officer shot and killed someone who attempted to murder a police office, yet he’s the villian?

    Only in LiberalLooneyLand does this begin to make sense.

    peretz2
    peretz2
    9 years ago

    Don’t worry. The Murderer will be set for li fe between TV interviews and Klan conve
    ntions

    FALLSBURGER
    FALLSBURGER
    9 years ago

    Peretz

    You are sick, get out of this great country of ours.
    People like you are destroying the greatest country in the world.

    The FBI which is controled by Eric Holder. Who is a radical leftist African American, basicly agreed to not indict officer Wilson & yet you call him a murderer ? Shame on you !!!

    HankM
    HankM
    9 years ago

    A jury of his peers found him innocent, he acted according to his training, yet he’s out of a job in the only career he ever knew. How is this justice? What is the next cop supposed to when faced with a similar situation?

    ayinglefunadorf
    ayinglefunadorf
    9 years ago

    “Liberal Looney Land” of Ferguson Mo.??? So if Missouri is “Liberal Looney” what is NYC and San Francisco?

    peretz2
    peretz2
    9 years ago

    OJ was also acquitted

    9 years ago

    To #4 -The grand jury did not find Darren Wilson “innocent”. They found that there was insufficient evidence to indict him for any crime. However, it doesn’t mean that he used good judgment. After Brown beat him, he should have stayed in his patrol car, and not taken off on foot after Brown. There was back up help which was on the way, and in fact, arrived within thirty seconds. This was not a life and death situation with a hostage, where Wilson had to run after Brown. If he had stayed where he was, the back up help would have eventually apprehended Brown, since he was wounded; Brown would have sought medical aid, at a hospital, and would have been arrested. In the NYPD, even cops who have been cleared by grand juries or at trials, have been brought up on charges at administrative trials, by the Internal Affairs Division.

    PaulinSaudi
    PaulinSaudi
    9 years ago

    The shooting seems to have been legit.

    Leaving the body in the street for hours was bad police work. Not being able to control demonstrations was bad police work. Having police officers attack the press is bad police work. Not being ready for a second wave of riots after months to get ready is not good police work.

    The police are paid to handle these sorts of things. These police took the money but were incapable of doing their jobs. They need to find other lines of work.

    9 years ago

    He should pack up and move to another state… people may try to hurt/kill him.