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Michael Brown's Family Will File Civil Suit Over His Death

The family of Michael Brown, the unarmed black man who was slain by Ferguson, Mo., police last August, say they will file a civil lawsuit over his death. Brown, 18, was shot and killed by Officer Darren Wilson, who is no longer with the city's police force.

The family's legal team "said the City of Ferguson and former Officer Darren Wilson will be named in the suit," The Associated Press reports.

The news comes one day after the Justice Department cleared Wilson in a civil rights probe — and delivered a scathing appraisal of the Ferguson Police Department.

Responding to the federal report, Ferguson Mayor James Knowles promised that the city will take steps to deal with the charges of racial bias and a focus on generating revenue at the police department.

"Today's report allows the city of Ferguson to identify problems not only in our police department, but in the entire St. Louis region," Knowles told St. Louis Public Radio. "We must do better not only as a city, but as a state, and as a country. We must all work to address issues of racial disparity in all aspects of society."

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Bill Chappell is a writer and editor on the News Desk in the heart of NPR's newsroom in Washington, D.C.