Missouri police officer who killed black teen speaks out: magazine

[August 05, 2015]  By Carey Gillam
 
 (Reuters) - The white police officer who last year shot and killed Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, says he has been unable to find another policing job and still feels threatened by critics who blame him for killing the unarmed black teenager, according to a story published in the New Yorker magazine.

Darren Wilson, 29, told the magazine that to try to keep his family safe after a series of death threats, he did not put his name on the deed when he bought a new house and had his wife check into a hospital anonymously when she gave birth to their daughter in March.

Only a few friends know where he lives, Wilson told the magazine, which has posted the article online.

Wilson was thrust into the limelight a few days after the Aug. 9 killing of Brown when officials released his name to the media, along with a description of the events that led Wilson to shoot the 18-year-old multiple times.

Brown's death, on an afternoon in the middle of a narrow street running through an apartment complex, fed into a long-simmering atmosphere of resentment and distrust between St. Louis-area minorities and police, sparking protests and sporadic rioting.

Protests have persisted in Ferguson and several other U.S. cities where police shootings and treatment of minorities are under scrutiny.

More protests in Ferguson are planned for this weekend, which marks one year since Brown's death.

A grand jury and the U.S. Justice Department both decided Wilson should not be charged with a crime in the killing, though he has been sued by Brown's family.

The Justice Department this year issued a scathing report on Ferguson's policing and municipal court practices that cited widespread racial discrimination and exploitation.

Wilson conceded that Ferguson's police force had a few bigoted members but denied racism was institutional there and said the Justice Department report was "skewed," according to the New Yorker.

He told the magazine he was "unemployable" because of the shooting. He said he has applied for several jobs, including back at the Ferguson Police Department, but has been told his presence would put other officers at risk.

He has not spent much time reflecting on Brown as a person, he told the New Yorker, "because it doesn't matter at this point."

(Reporting by Carey Gillam in Kansas City; Editing by Mohammad Zargham)

[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.