US police officer who shot Michael Brown resigns

The white police officer who shot black teenager Michael Brown dead in self defence has resigned, nearly four months after the confrontation that prompted protests in the US city of St Louis and across the country.

Darren Wilson, 28, had been on administrative leave since the August 9 shooting.

Darren Wilson's resignation has been widely anticipated.

Still, it's likely that those in Ferguson who've been angered that Wilson wasn't indicted will welcome his resignation.


It's almost impossible to imagine him as a police officer patrolling a community that believes he's guilty of at least the wrongful death of Michael Brown.

Civil rights activists have been calling for protests to focus now on changes in Missouri state law to restrict the use of deadly force by police and to explicitly outlaw racial profiling by officers.

That's what marchers are calling for as they make their way 190km from Ferguson to the state capital Jefferson city over the next week.

His resignation was announced on Saturday by one of his lawyers, Neil Bruntrager, the Associated Press news agency and local newspaper the St Louis Dispatch reported.

Bruntrager said the resignation was effective immediately.

"I, Darren Wilson, hereby resign my commission as a police officer with the City of Ferguson effective immediately," the Dispatch newspaper quoted Wison's resignation letter as saying on its website.

"I have been told that my continued employment may put the residents and police officers of the city of Ferguson at risk, which is a circumstance that I cannot allow."