CLAYTON, Mo. (AP) — St. Louis County’s top prosecutor will not charge the former police officer who fatally shot Michael Brown, a dramatic decision that could reopen old wounds amid a renewed and intense national conversation about racial injustice and the police treatment of minorities.
Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell announced the decision Thursday after quietly re-investigating the case over the course of five months.
It was nearly six years ago that a grand jury declined to indict Darren Wilson, the white police officer who shot Brown, a Black 18-year-old. Civil rights leaders and Brown’s mother had urged Bell, the county’s first Black prosecutor, to reopen the case after he took office in January 2019.
