[Mr Poo]

FERGUSON, Mo. (AP) — The Ferguson police officer who fatally shot Michael Brown has resigned, his attorney said Saturday, nearly four months after the confrontation between the white officer and unarmed black 18-year-old that ignited protests in the St. Louis suburb and across the nation.

Darren Wilson, who has been on administrative leave since the Aug. 9 shooting, resigned effective immediately, said his attorney, Neil Bruntrager. He declined further immediate comment.

The Brown family attorney, Benjamin Crump, didn't immediately return phone and email messages from The Associated Press.

Wilson told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch he was stepping down out of his "own free will" after the police department told him it had received threats of violence if he remained an employee.

"I'm not willing to let someone else get hurt because of me," said Wilson, who had been with the department for six years.

Wilson fatally shot Brown after a scuffle in the middle of a street, where Brown's body lay for several hours as police investigated and a crowd of angry onlookers gathered. Several days of tense and at times violent protests followed, prompting Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon to call in the National Guard to help.

Some witnesses have said Brown had his hands up when Wilson shot him. Wilson told a grand jury that reviewed the case that he feared for his life when Brown hit him and reached for his gun.

The grand jury spent more than three months reviewing evidence before announcing Monday that it wouldn't indict Wilson, igniting violence among protesters that resulted in at least a dozen commercial buildings in the area being destroyed by fire. Several other large but peaceful protests have since been held in Ferguson and across the country.

The U.S. Justice Department is conducting a civil rights investigation into the shooting and a separate investigation of police department practices.

Wilson's resignation didn't seem to affect protesters outside Ferguson police headquarters Saturday night.

Rick Campbell said he didn't care about the resignation, saying: "I've been protesting out here since August." Several other protesters merely shrugged their shoulders when asked about the resignation.

"We were not after Wilson's job," civil rights activist the Rev. Al Sharpton said in a written statement. "We were after Michael Brown's justice."

Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson didn't immediately return a message left on his cellphone seeking comment.

Wilson spent months in hiding and made no public statements following the shooting. Wilson, who recently got married, broke his silence after the grand jury decision, telling ABC News that he couldn't have done anything differently in the encounter with Brown.

Wilson said he had a clean conscience because "I know I did my job right." Brown's shooting was the first time he fired his gun on the job, he said. Asked whether the encounter would have unfolded the same way if Brown had been white, Wilson said yes.

Wilson began his career in nearby Jennings before moving to the Ferguson job a few years ago. He had no previous complaints against him and a good career record, according to Jackson, who called Wilson "an excellent police officer."

A few months before the shooting, Wilson had received a commendation for detaining a suspect in a drug case.

[katzmeow]

What a shame!!! I bet he was "an excellent police officer." Just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time! Hope he can move forward from here.

[niknik]

I feel for the guy, one things for sure. If he had any skeletons they would have surfaced by now.

[ices]

On one hand American police can be totalitarian and absolute scumbags. They can also be great people.

This guy fell victim to the increasing hysteria of black victimhood. Where a white officer cannot possibly have any right to shoot a black thug bigger and stronger than him after he assaults him and puts him in a position where a gun is about to be used against him.

Only in America.

Would it be ok if a black police officer did it? Or Hispanic?

[TheVrist]

Originally Posted by ices ↗

Would it be ok if a black police officer did it? Or Hispanic?

I wonder if the impact would change if, it was a white Hispanic cop, or if it was a white cop killing a black Hispanic.

[GRiZ]

Blacks kill 8x as many whites as whites kill blacks.

Lets talk about that.

[TheVrist]

Now Luis Farrakhan is inciting violence, at morgan university. I'd post the story, but I'm on my phone.

[niknik]

Originally Posted by GODISNOTGREAT ↗

Blacks kill 8x as many whites as whites kill blacks.

Lets talk about that.

No.. Instead let's find a rich white guy to organize black boycotts of stores.

[beamerguy]

Blacks are racist and should be shot into space to go fuck up another planet. Getting ultra sick of this shit, dumb ass kid got fucked off cause he was being a cocksucker and he lost his life.......fuck him.....if you wanna get respect, then earn respect instead of sitting on your lazy food stamp, welfare receiving ass talking about how much you deserve respect....."ok prove it motherfucker"

[Nasty Nuggets]

Louis farakhan looks like a black John taffer from bar rescue, just sayin.....