Jury acquits a former police officer who shot and killed a black man in Milwaukee

AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps

A Milwaukee jury has acquitted a former police officer of first-degree reckless homicide in the shooting of a man last year that ignited riots in the city.

Jurors on Wednesday found that Dominique Heaggan-Brown was justified when he shot 23-year-old Sylville Smith after a brief foot chase following a traffic stop Aug. 23. Smith had a gun when he ran, but prosecutors said Smith had thrown the weapon over a fence and was defenseless when Heaggan-Brown fired the shot that killed him.

Heaggan-Brown's attorneys argued the officer had to act quickly to defend himself. Bodycam footage showed 1.69 seconds passed between a shot that hit Smith in the arm — as he appeared to be tossing his gun — and the one that hit his chest.

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