Michael Brown family plans wrongful-death suit

ST. LOUIS, Mo. — The family of Michael Brown Jr., the African-American teenager who was fatally shot by a white police officer in a St. Louis suburb last year, plans to file a wrongful death lawsuit against the city of Ferguson.

Attorneys for the family said Wednesday they plan to announce the filing of the civil lawsuit Thursday morning.

Brown's shooting death in August by Officer Darren Wilson led to sometimes violent protests that were renewed when a grand jury declined to charge Wilson.

The lawsuit had been expected. Attorneys for Brown's mother, Lesley McSpadden, and his father, Michael Brown Sr., announced in early March that a wrongful death lawsuit would be filed "soon."

Anthony Gray said that a suit would "demonstrate to reasonable-minded people" that Wilson did not need to use deadly force against the 18-year-old Brown, who was unarmed, and give "a more clear, a more accurate picture of what took place that day."

That statement came after the Department of Justice released two reports, one that found numerous instances of racial bias within the Ferguson Police Department, and a second that reviewed Brown's death and resulted in a decision not to file civil rights charges against Wilson.

Since the Department of Justice reports were released, several top officials in Ferguson have resigned, including Police Chief Tom Jackson, Judge Ronald Brockmeyer and City Manager John Shaw.

Contributing: The Associated Press