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| Milwaukee officer cleared in shooting that sparked riots | Milwaukee officer cleared in shooting that sparked riots |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| A former Milwaukee police officer has been acquitted of first-degree reckless homicide in the shooting of a black man last year. | A former Milwaukee police officer has been acquitted of first-degree reckless homicide in the shooting of a black man last year. |
| Dominique Heaggan-Brown shot and killed Sylville Smith, 23, last August after he fled from police. The death sparked two days of riots in Milwaukee. | Dominique Heaggan-Brown shot and killed Sylville Smith, 23, last August after he fled from police. The death sparked two days of riots in Milwaukee. |
| Mr Smith was armed with a pistol, but threw it over a fence before his death. | Mr Smith was armed with a pistol, but threw it over a fence before his death. |
| The case is one of several involving the police shooting of black men that has sparked protests nationwide. | The case is one of several involving the police shooting of black men that has sparked protests nationwide. |
| Attorneys for Mr Heaggan-Brown, who is also black, argued that the former officer was forced to make a quick decision during a foot chase with an armed man. | |
| But prosecutors contended that police body camera footage allegedly showed the officer shooting Mr Smith in the chest as he lay on the ground. | |
| Mr Heaggan-Brown shot Mr Smith on his right arm as he threw his gun away and again, in the chest, 1.69 second later, according to investigators. | |
| A review of the body camera footage showed "that at the time of the second shot, Smith was unarmed and had his hands near his head". | |
| Mr Heaggan-Brown had already been fired from the police force due to a separate investigation accusing him of sexual assault. |