Sacramento Police Clear Cops Who Fatally Shot Stephon Clark

SACRAMENTO, CA — The Sacramento Police Department cleared two officers on Thursday who fatally shot Stephon Clark in March 2018, shortly after federal prosecutors closed a civil rights case against the officers.

The Sacramento Bee first reported the department's expected announcement Thursday afternoon, which concluded that officers Terrence Mercadal and Jared Robinet committed "no violations of department policy or training."

The two officers "will return to full, active duty," Chief Daniel Hahn said.

Stephon Clark, 22, was unarmed and standing in his grandmother's backyard when police fatally shot him after mistaking the cellphone he was holding for a gun. The officers, who were responding to reports of a man breaking car windows, chased Clark into the backyard before firing 20 rounds at him, hitting him eight times.

Clark's death ignited weeks of protests in Sacramento, and the city ultimately agreed to pay $2.4 million to Clark's two sons to settle his family's federal civil rights lawsuit.

The Bee reported that the department's announcement came just three minutes after federal officials closed their own investigation into whether Clark's civil rights had been violated. That investigation "found insufficient evidence to support federal criminal civil rights charges" against the officers, according to a release by U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott and FBI agent Sean Ragan.

Clark's brother told the Bee he was outraged by the department's decision, but that he was "not surprised or shocked."

"We’ve been denied justice for generations," he said.