Darren Wilson Resigns: No Severance Package For Ex-Ferguson Police Officer In Mike Brown Shooting

Darren Wilson won’t be receiving a severance package from the Ferguson Police Department, Ferguson Mayor James Knowles said Sunday.

Wilson, 28, resigned on Saturday, and Knowles said the ex-officer won’t receive any additional pay or a severance package after stepping down from the police force, the Associated Press reported.

Wilson indicated earlier this month that he would resign from the department for the safety of his colleagues, who are facing criticism from angry protesters who believe Wilson unjustifiably shot and killed Mike Brown in August. A grand jury decided not to indict Wilson last week for the shooting.

Wilson had been in seclusion as the jury worked for more than three months to determine whether he should face charges in an incident that stoked racial tensions in Ferguson and spurred massive protests in support of the slain 18-year-old unarmed black teen.

"As of yesterday, Officer Wilson is no longer an employee of the city of Ferguson,” Knowles told a news conference on Sunday, New York Times reporter Mitch Smith tweeted. Knowles added that Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson has no plans to resign and that city officials in Ferguson are waiting for the outcome of a federal investigation into Brown’s shooting.

Wilson said in a letter announcing his resignation that his fellow officers would be endangered if he continued serving in the department.

"I have been told that my continued employment may put the residents and police officers of the City of Ferguson at risk, which is a circumstance that I cannot allow,” he wrote, according to NBC News. "It was my hope to continue in police work, but the safety of other police officers and the community are of paramount importance to me. It is my hope that my resignation will allow the community to heal."

Protests erupted Monday night when St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch announced that the grand jury returned a no true bill against Wilson, meaning that the officer would not be indicted. Cars were torched and businesses were looted as protesters expressed their frustration over the decision.