guardian | “It has been an honor and a privilege to serve this great city and to
serve with all of you,” said Jackson. “I will continue to assist the
city in anyway I can in my capacity as private citizen.”
City officials said Jackson would receive a severance payment and
health insurance for a year. Lt. Col. Al Eickhoff is to become acting
police chief while city authorities carry out a “a nationwide search”
for a permanent replacement.
The resignation of Jackson has long been anticipated.He was heavily
criticised for his handling of the furore over a white police officer’s
fatal shooting of a black 18-year-old in Ferguson last year.
Residents were appalled that Jackson’s officers left the body of
Michael Brown lying for more than four hours in the residential
side-street where he had been shot dead by Darren Wilson on 9 August.
Successive nights of protests followed Brown’s death.
Jackson eventually apologise to Brown’s family in a video message.
“It was just too long, and I am truly sorry,” he said of the time
Brown’s body was left in the street. The chief was also criticised for
announcing at the same time as he unveiled Wilson’s long-awaited name
that Brown had been caught robbing a convenience store in the minutes
before he was killed.
