California AG decides not to charge officers with Stephon Clark’s death
California’s attorney general won’t charge two Sacramento police officers who shot and killed an unarmed black man last year.
Attorney General Xavier Becerra’s announcement Tuesday follows a prosecutor’s finding that the two officers broke no laws when they shot 22-year-old Stephon Clark.
Officers Terrance Mercadal and Jared Robinet say they mistakenly thought Clark was approaching them with a gun after he ran into his grandparents’ backyard as police investigated vandalism.
Investigators found only a cellphone.
Clark’s killing prompted intense protests last year in California’s capital city and demonstrations nationwide.
Clark’s family and black leaders urged Becerra to reach a different conclusion than the local prosecutor.
That decision this weekend renewed protests and has increased support for changing the state’s legal standard for when police can kill.