The ex-Milwaukee police officer who fatally shot a mentally ill black man in April won't face criminal charges, ruled the county's top prosecutor.
Christopher Manney, 38, who is white, shot Dontre Hamilton, 31, who is a mentally ill black man in April, as HNGN previously reported.
Manney was responding to a call for a welfare check on a man sleeping in a downtown park when he frisked Hamilton. The frisk resulted in a fist fight between the two men. Hamilton took Manney's baton and hit him in the neck with it. Manney responded by fatally shooting Hamilton 14 times.
It has since been revealed that Manney will not be charged.
"Based on all the evidence and analysis presented in this report, I come to the conclusion that Officer Manney's use of force in this incident was justified self-defense and that defense cannot be reasonably overcome to establish a basis to charge Officer Manney with a crime," Chisholm said in a statement.
The case was compared to the Michael Brown shooting, an unarmed, black 18-year-old shot by an officer in Ferguson. In both cases the white officers were not indicted.
After learning that Manney would not be charged the Hamilton family released a statement saying "cries out for justice, criminal charges against Christopher Manney, and accountability to Dontre Hamilton's family." They also requested the U.S. attorney in Milwaukee to seek a federal investigation.
