Police killing of black man called lawful

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The two Sacramento police officers whose fatal shooting of an unarmed black man last year prompted nationwide protests will not face criminal charges, prosecutors announced Saturday.

Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert said officers Terrance Mercadal and Jared Robinet used lethal force lawfully. The officers have said they thought Stephon Clark, a vandalism suspect, had a gun but investigators found only a cellphone.

“We must recognize that they are often forced to make split-second decisions and we must recognize that they are under tense, uncertain and rapidly evolving circumstances,” Schubert said.

The city has been expecting protests, with state government workers told in recent days to stay away from downtown at least through the weekend.

Schubert said the decision not to file charges against the officers “does not diminish in any way the tragedy, the anger and the frustration that we heard since the time of his death.”

Protests after the shooting were largely peaceful but disrupted downtown professional basketball games and freeway traffic.

Clark’s family filed a wrongful-death lawsuit in January against the city, Mercadal and Robinet, alleging that the officers used excessive force and that he was a victim of racial profiling.

One of the officers who shot Clark is black and the other is white, police said.

AP/RICH PEDRONCELLI Anne Marie Schubert, district attorney of Sacramento County, Calif., said Saturday that the decision not to charge the two officers “does not diminish in any way the tragedy, the anger and the frustration that we heard” since the death of Stephon Clark.