Darren Wilson Resigns From Ferguson Police Department, Citing Threats To Other Officers

As Darren Wilson resigns from the Ferguson Police Department, all is not at peace in the St. Louis suburb. The officer who faced no charges in the shooting death of Michael Brown says that he has been told there are threats to other officers if he continues to work for the department.

The officer remained in hiding from the August 9th shooting until the October 24th Grand Jury decision. Afterwards, he issued a public statement, declining to comment further on the matter and speaking of the difficulty to himself during the three-and-a-half months between the shooting and the decision.

Despite this, he later gave an interview to ABC, which Alternet reports he was well-paid for, with a fee that goes unnamed but was somewhere in the ‘mid-to-high’ six figure range.

Though the resignation was officially declared on Friday, Darren Wilson resigns without causing any surprise, since he’d previously spoken of leaving his job after the Grand Jury decision was in, saying that he wouldn’t do so before, lest it give an appearance of guilt. The purported large payment for his television interview, combined with massive online donations for the officer, are another reason people say they aren’t surprised he’s ending his career.

According to St. Louis Today, Wilson says that he can’t continue as a Ferguson Officer and risk lives of community and officials.

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.

Though Darren Wilson resigns, the community continues with protests and calls for change in their local police department, and in the way the country looks at young black men.

[Photo Credit: West Midlands Police]

Darren Wilson Resigns From Ferguson Police Department, Citing Threats To Other Officers