The family of Michael Brown may still get their day in court—in a civil rights lawsuit against the Ferguson Police Department. But the focus would shift from Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson’s personal responsibility for the shooting death of Michael Brown, which did not lead a St. Louis County grand jury to recommend charging Wilson with a crime. Instead, it could be filed against the Ferguson Police Department for improper police procedures based on the testimony by Wilson that has been unsealed following the grand jury’s decision. That is the conclusion of legal experts who have been parsing the case and pointing to precedents such as the lawsuit and legal settlement that followed the shooting death of Oscar Grant in Oakland, California, by a Bay Area Rapid Transit Police officer in 2009. While the civil rights lawsuit could take years to wind its way through the courts, the admission by Wilson that he chose not to carry a taser—because it was unwieldy—is one example of how the Ferguson Police Department could be vulnerable because their officer was not prepared to use non-lethal force. alternet.org/civil-liberties/darren-wilson-may-not-face-charges-fergusons-police-department-still-hook?akid=12517.205098.3SlDKy&rd=1&src=newsletter1027831&t=7
Posted on: Tue, 09 Dec 2014 08:21:54 +0000
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