Darren Wilson, the Ferguson, Mo. police officer who shot and killed unarmed black teenager Michael Brown in August, failed to appear in court on Monday, prompting a judge to dismiss a pending felony drug case in which he was the arresting officer.
Wilson arrested Christopher A. Brooks in February 2013 for possession of marijuana and the intent to sell.
According to the Washington Post:
The felony drug case involving Brooks began in February 2013, when Wilson received a call about a suspicious vehicle, according to the Post-Dispatch. Two men exited the car when Wilson arrived, the newspaper reported, and the officer spoke with Brooks and 28-year-old Erik C. Johnson. Wilson handcuffed the pair and asked for Brooks’s keys.
Brooks refused, Wilson tried to grab the keys, and Brooks slapped his hand away, the report says. Wilson eventually got the keys, and pushed or pulled Brooks to the ground when Brooks refused to get down. Wilson wrote that he later found bags of marijuana and a bag containing 10 pills. An addendum to the report says Brooks admitted selling marijuana to support his family, and planned to sell the pills.
This is the sixth low-level drug case connected to Wilson to be dropped. The cases are being dismissed because Wilson refuses to show up in court.
“I expected it to be dismissed,” Brooks’s attorney, Nick Zotos, said in a phone interview with The Post. “I didn’t expect the officer to show at all. Because he’s probably listening to his lawyers. He’s represented by good lawyers in his own defense. I would presume they told him ‘don’t show.’ He’s an inactive police officer, there’s nothing in it for him to appear.”
Officer Wilson will not be penalized for his absence. In fact, he has not been seen since the shooting of Mike Brown on Aug.9.
An investigation of the incident between Officer Darren Wilson and Michael Brown is still pending. A grand jury is expected to make a decision whether Wilson will be indicted soon.
SOURCE: Washington Post | PHOTO CREDIT: SCREENSHOT
