Michael Brown's Family Is Suing Ferguson

On Thursday, at a press conference held at the Greater St. Mark Family Church in St. Louis, Michael Brown's family said they'd file a civil lawsuit against Darren Wilson and the city of Ferguson for the wrongful death of their son. The decision to sue comes a day after the Department of Justice cleared Wilson of violating Brown's civil rights and released an alarming report on the racial discrimination evident in the Ferguson police department.

Anthony Gray, one of the attorneys representing the Brown family, said at the conference:

We are officially in the process of formulating a civil case that we anticipate will be filed shortly on behalf of the family. ...We feel and we've always felt from the very beginning that officer Darren Wilson did not have to shoot and kill Mike Brown in broad daylight in the manner that he did. That he had other options available to him and that he chose deadly force as his option.

And we plan to demonstrate in a court of law to reasonable-minded people that choice to use deadly force was unreasonable and unnecessary under those circumstances.

After a months-long investigation, the Department of Justice concluded that they could not disprove Wilson's testimony that he shot Brown in self-defense, and therefore cleared him of any civil rights violation charges. Upon hearing the news, Brown's mother, Lesley McSpadden, and father, Michael Brown Sr., issued the following statement:

Today we received disappointing news from the Department of Justice that the killer of our son wouldn't be held accountable for his actions.

The Justice Department's decision to clear Wilson was made in stark contrast to its other finding that the Ferguson police department routinely engages in racial discrimination on the job that results in violating the civil rights of black citizens. The report uncovered frequent examples of unfair traffic stops and arrests, as well as excessive use of force.

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