Wilson: ‘ I did my job right’

Demonstrators take to streets across U. S. to protest grand jury decision

The police officer who killed unarmed 18- year- old Michael Brown insisted Tuesday in his first public statements since the Aug. 9 shooting that he could not have done anything differently in the confrontation.

During an interview with ABC News, Darren Wilson said he has a clean conscience because “I know I did my job right.”

Wilson, who has been on leave since the incident, told ABC that Brown’s shooting marked the first time he had fired his gun.

Speaking in Chicago, U. S. Presi- dent Barack Obama said he knows the grand jury’s decision “upset a lot of people” but that the “the frustrations that we’ve seen are not just about a particular incident. They have deep roots in many communities of colour who have a sense that our laws are not always being enforced uniformly or fairly.”

People protesting the decision took to the streets in cities across the U. S. for a second day Tuesday, showing the racially charged case has inflamed tensions even hundreds of miles from the predominantly black St. Louis suburb.

Here is a look at some of Tuesday ’s demonstrations across the country:

SEATTLE

Hundreds of Seattle high school students walked out of classes and rallied at the University of Washington or marched to the downtown federal courthouse.

MINNEAPOLIS

A rally in Minneapolis turned scary when a car hit and then drove through several protesters.

Several hundred people gathered Tuesday afternoon near the 3rd Precinct police outpost to show solidarity with Brown. Helicopter footage from KSTP- TV showed the car pushing through protesters and driving over at least one. A woman suffered minor injuries.

OAKLAND

Police braced for more demonstrations in Oakland, where cleanup continued after scores of people hurled bottles, broke windows, set small fires and vandalized a police car Monday night.

Forty- three people were arrested in the melee that escalated after some protesters shut down traffic on a major highway, police Chief Sean Whent said Tuesday.

CLEVELAND

Several hundred people marched down a freeway exit ramp to block rush- hour traffic while protesting the Missouri developments and Saturday’s fatal shooting by an officer of 12- year- old Tamir Rice of Cleveland, who had a pellet gun that looked like a real firearm.