Two Sacramento police officers who shot and killed an unarmed black man in a darkened backyard last year will not be charged criminally in the case, the county prosecutor said on Saturday, citing what she said was their legitimate fear that the suspect was firing on them.
(Reuters) – Two Sacramento police officers who shot and killed an unarmed black man in a darkened backyard last year will not be charged criminally in the case, the county prosecutor said on Saturday, citing what she said was their legitimate fear that the suspect was firing on them.
The decision not to charge the officers in the death of Stephon Clark, 22, angered community activists and touched off protests outside police headquarters in Sacramento, the California state capital.
Clark was shot dead on March 18,2018, in the backyard of his grandparents’ home by police responding to reports that someone was breaking car windows.
The incident, like other fatal police shootings of young black men, sparked two weeks of demonstrations in the streets of Sacramento at the time and added fuel to a national debate on police force against unarmed black people.
