US police officer Darren Wilson who brutally shot unarmed black teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson – has resigned from the force.
His lawyer Neil Bruntrager told US media the resignation was effective immediately.
The St Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper said the 28-year-old Mr Wilson had decided to step down after his police department received threats that violence would follow if he stayed on as an employee.
His letter reads I have been told that my continued employment may put the residents and police officers of the City of Ferguson at risk, which is a circumstance that I cannot allow. “For obvious reasons, I wanted to wait until the grand jury made their decision before I officially made my decision to resign.It was my hope to continue in police work, but the safety of other police officers and the community are of paramount importance to me. It is my hope that my resignation will allow the community to heal.”
In a subsequent telephone interview on Saturday evening, the paper quoted Mr Wilson as saying: “I’m resigning of my own free will. I’m not willing to let someone else get hurt because of me.”resigning was “the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do”.
Source: BBC