No Charges Brought Against Officers in Jamar Clark Shooting

Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman has decided not to charge the police officers in the shooting death of Jamar Clark.

Minneapolis police officers Mark Riggenberg and Dustin Schwarze will not be charged for their roles in the shooting.

Freeman says multiple witness statements, statements from responders and videos taken from witnesses at the scene were part of the decision.

Freeman stated Jamar Clark was not in handcuffs at the time officers shot him and Clark allegedly prevented paramedics from taking Clark’s girlfriend, whom Clark allegedly assaulted, to a nearby hospital.

Freeman says when police officers arrived, Clark allegedly resisted officers’ requests to back away from the ambulance.

He says Clark was taken to the ground in a “standard police procedure to subdue and place a suspect in handcuffs”.

Freeman then stated that before handcuffs could be placed on Clark, he allegedly reached for and grabbed the officer’s gun.

When Clark allegedly refused to release the gun, one of the officers shot him, hitting him in the head.

Clark died hours later.

Freeman says he decided to make the charging decision himself because the grand jury’s work is secret and wanted the final decision to be open to public review after three other officer-involved shootings did not result in indictments.