Ferguson & St. Louis, MO -- Deaths and Protests

[HairOfTheDog]

Darren Wilson has resigned from the Ferguson police force.

I was going to channel Nancy Grace and scream BOMBSHELL but I'm too tired.

Nancy's BOMBSHELL TONIGHT! pieces are almost always last week's news.

It's been all-but-confirmed for months that Wilson would resign from the force after the grand jury decision. Here's his resignation statement:

"I, Darren Wilson, hereby resign my commission as a police officer with the City of Ferguson effective immediately. 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. I would like to thank all of my supporters and fellow officers throughout this process."

I posted in another thread a couple of months back about Wilson having garnered nearly $500,000 in donations for his legal defense and living expenses.

He doesn't need a legal defense and he received his normal pay while he was on leave, but the donation site has been re-opened and people are still contributing. It's also reported that he may have earned big bucks for the ABC interview with George Stephanopoulos, but the amount hasn't been confirmed. In any event, he's accumulated about 10 years worth of his normal salary in the few months since he shot Michael Brown.

I don't wish Wilson harm. We know that a lot of eyewitnesses lied and were backed into a corner with details from the autopsy report (that's confirmed in the GJ tetimony transcript). That worked in Wilson's favor. I hope Wilson told the truth. For some reason, I'm bothered by Wilson's testimony, in terms of how he characterized himself -- feeling like a 5-year-old up against Hulk Hogan and looking into the eyes of a demon. I know Michael Brown had more weight on him than Wilson did, and Brown was bullyish (at least sometimes, as evidenced in the liquor store surveillance tape). But, Darren Wilson was a 6'4" 200 pound trained police officer with a gun. I think it's a good idea that Wilson finds something else to do and maybe somewhere else to do it. He has no criminal record or dings on his police record -- the man has opportunities. I personally don't wanna hear or read his story again, but won't be surprised if he embarks upon the paid interview circuit and/or writes a book.