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The white Missouri police officer who shot and killed a black unarmed teenager in August will not receive a severance package following his decision to resign from the Ferguson Police Department.

Darren Wilson won’t receive any further pay or benefits, according to Mayor James Knowles, who added that Wilson and the city have severed their ties. Wilson was placed on paid administrative leave following the shooting of Michael Brown Jr. on Aug. 9.

The 28-year-old’s lawyer, Neil Bruntrager, told the Associated Press that the former officer decided to resign after Police Chief Tom Jackson warned him people had threatened the department and its officers.

Wilson, who had been with the department for less than three years told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Saturday, “I’m not willing to let someone else get hurt because of me.”

But Wilson’s resignation coupled with the decision not to give him a severance package doesn’t mean much for demonstrators protesting police violence nationally, especially because Wilson received thousands in donations from his supporters in the months following the shooting.

Many seemed unfazed by the resignation. Several merely shrugged their shoulders when asked what they thought, while Rick Campbell flatly said he didn’t care about the resignation, noting: “I’ve been protesting out here since August.”

Victoria Rutherford, a resident who was not protesting, said she believed Wilson should have not only resigned, but been convicted of a crime.

“I’m upset. I have a 16-year-old son. It could’ve been him. I feel that he was absolutely in the wrong,” she said.

The resignation didn’t come as a surprise to Brown’s family attorney, Benjamin Crumpeither.

“It was always believed that the police officer would do what was in his best interest, both personally and professionally,” Crump said. “We didn’t believe that he would be able to be effective for the Ferguson community nor the Ferguson Police Department because of the tragic circumstances that claimed the life of Michael Brown Jr.”

The family is considering filing a wrongful death lawsuit.

In the meantime, Wilson will have to look for other work.

“In terms of what it (the resignation) means, it means at this point he doesn’t have a paycheck,” Bruntrager said. “He has no income so he’ll have to make some decisions pretty quickly.”

Something tells us he’ll be just fine.

SOURCE: Huffington Post | PHOTO CREDIT: St. Louis Prosecutors Office 

Protests In Ferguson Following No Indictment For Darren Wilson (PHOTOS)
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