Ferguson City Manager Resigns After Being Called Out in DOJ Report

Ferguson city manager John Shaw has resigned today after he was specifically called out in the Justice Department report on racist police practices in the Missouri town.

Shaw is one of the officials called out in the report for being complicit in a system where black people were targeted for financial reasons. The New York Times reports tonight that Shaw has resigned, though The Washington Post notes the city council refers to it as a “mutual separation agreement.”

Shaw released a lengthy statement tonight on his resignation, in which he mentions the DOJ report:

“I have also worked closely with the Department of Justice to identify opportunities to improve, and then moved quickly to implement its recommendations for change. And while I certainly respect the work that the DOJ recently performed in their investigation and report on the City of Ferguson, I must state clearly that my office has never instructed the police department to target African Americans, nor falsify charges to administer fines, nor heap abuses on the backs of the poor. Any inferences of that kind from the report are simply false.”

[image via screengrab]

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Follow Josh Feldman on Twitter: @feldmaniac

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