A U.S. attorney has declined to file federal civil rights charges against two Minneapolis police officers in the death of a black man last November. Jamar Clark, 24, was shot in the head on November 15 and died the next day. Attorney Andrew Luger says there is “insufficient evidence” to charges OfficersMark Ringgenberg and Dustin Schwarze.
Clark had a confrontation with police after paramedics called the them, saying he was “interfering with their efforts to treat an assault victim.”
Witnesses say that Clark was handcuffed when he was shot, but police say that he was not. Clark’s death spurred a week of protests in the city. Some protestors camped out for 18 days outside the Minneapolis Police Department’s 4th precinct.
After the county’s attorney declined to file criminal charges against the officers, Mayor Betsy Hodges requested a civil rights investigation from U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota and the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
Now that the results of the civil rights investigation have been released, an internal police investigation is expected.
