California attorney general will not charge Sacramento officers in Stephon Clark shooting

ByLeslie Brinkley KGO logo
Wednesday, March 6, 2019
CA attorney general will not charge officers in Stephon Clark shooting
California's attorney general won't charge two Sacramento police officers who shot and killed an unarmed black man last year.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KGO) -- Two separate independent investigations looked at what grounds two Sacramento police officers had for shooting and killing an armed young black man who ended up having a cellphone in his hand and not a gun.

The California Attorney General's Office came to the same conclusion as the DA's Office.

RELATED: 80 arrested during march in Sacramento over decision in Stephon Clark shooting case

Attorney general Xavier Becerra said, "Based on a review of the facts, based on evidence and the law, I'm here to announce today that our investigation has concluded that no criminal charges against the officers involved in the shooting can be sustained."

Twenty-two-year-old Stephon Clark was gunned down in his grandmother's backyard on March 18 last year following a police pursuit.

The California Department of Justice review cited the facts that Clark broke a sliding door and vandalized cars and did not follow officers' commands and then advanced to within 16 feet of the officers as being key to their decision that the officers believed they were an imminent danger.

Becerra says video evidence was a big part of their investigation, especially body cam and helicopter images. He said it was tough telling Clark's mother of the results in person Tuesday morning.

RELATED: 2 Sacramento police officers who shot Stephon Clark won't face charges

He said, "There is a young man who is no longer alive with two sons who won't know their father, and I just met with the mother who is grieving. Of course it's a tough call... it's never easy."

The Sacramento DA's Office announced the same conclusion from their investigation on Saturday, which triggered a demonstration and a sit-in on Sunday that led to the closure of Sacramento's Arden Fair Mall.

Activists demanded that the two officers be fired as they marched in an East Sacramento predominately white neighborhood Monday night.

Police then arrested 84 people as the protesters marched onto a freeway overpass. Several pastors and journalists were among those arrested.

Sacramento Black Lives Matter founder Tanya Faison said she's disgusted, angry and sad at the decision by the Attorney General's Office to not charge the officers. She pledges that protesters will "occupy" the Sacramento Police Department until those officers are fired.

Check out more stories about the Stephon Clark case.