Michael Brown's family to sue city of Ferguson over teen's death

Washington: The family of an unarmed African American teenager killed by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri has said it will sue the city for his “wrongful death.” The family said in a statement they will formally announce a “civil suit against the City of Ferguson in the wrongful death of Michael Brown.” The Brown family is expected to make the announcement on Thursday along with their lawyers. [caption id=“attachment_2209648” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Michael Brown was shot dead by a police officer last year. AP[/caption] Brown, 18, was killed by officer Darren Wilson last August after he was stopped on suspicion of robbing a box of cigarillos. The death unleashed nation-wide protests and sparked debate about race relations and excessive police force. A grand jury in Missouri’s St Louis County opted not to indict Wilson last November after he testified that he acted in self-defense after Brown tried to grab his pistol. Others maintain that Brown had put his hands up in a gesture of surrender when Wilson pulled the trigger. Ferguson, with a population of 21,000, is two-thirds African-American, but its police force and city council are overwhelmingly white. A US Justice Department inquiry released in March agreed with the grand jury decision, saying there was insufficient evidence to prosecute Wilson for the youth’s death. But it exposed a history of racial bias within the Ferguson police force, and said blacks were targeted as a way to generate municipal revenue through traffic fines and court fees. Ferguson’s police chief, municipal judge and city manager have since resigned. AFP