Officer Christopher Manney was fired for not following policy, even though the shooting was justified. (Photo: Milwaukee PD)
After county prosecutors announced yesterday they won't charge a white former Milwaukee police officer in connection with the killing of a black man in April, the U.S. Department of Justice said today that it will review the case for possible civil rights violations.
The county prosecutor determined that the shooting was a justified use of deadly force in self-defense. Dontre Hamilton, 31, was shot 14 times by Officer Christopher Manney, after the two got into a violent struggle in a downtown Milwaukee park.
The Justice department will "undertake a federal review of this case to determine if, under federal civil rights law, there is a basis, both legal and factual, upon which a federal civil rights prosecution may be premised," the U.S. attorney said in a statement. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin and the Civil Rights Division will conduct the review, ABC News reports.
