Missouri Police Officer Darren Wilson has given his first televised interview since shooting dead black teenager Michael Brown last August, and his comments may do nothing to ease the tensions in Ferguson.
Speaking with ABC's George Stephanopoulos less than 24 hours after a grand jury decided he would not be indicted on charges, he detailed his version of events surrounding the August 9 confrontation with Brown, ending with the 18-year-old's death.
Riots have been sparked in Ferguson since Monday night and the grand jury's decision, seeing protesters clashing with police, looting local businesses and setting buildings and cars on fire, despite Brown's family calling for calm protests and no violence.
As the police conduct an internal investigation, Officer Wilson remains on paid leave, and insists that he made the right choice in the fight and would do it all over again.
"The reason I have a clear conscience is because I know I did my job right," said Wilson, adding that he and his wife now just want to move on and have a normal life.
It was revealed on Monday that Wilson was trying to arrest Brown in connection to a reported robbery the day of his death, as he matched the description given of the criminal who had stolen items from a convenience store.
Noticing cigarillos on Brown's person after he refused to move to the sidewalk, Wilson claims that Brown was defensive from the very start of their confrontation, saying "f**k what you have to say" and slamming Wilson's driver's door shut when he tried to exit the vehicle.
Attempting to push out of the door to free himself, he says Brown kept it shut and eventually reached his hands inside the vehicle to throw the first punch.
Engaged in a fist fight for the next ten seconds, the cop says that he "felt the immense power" of the 6-foot-4, 292-pound Michael Brown, using the analogy of a five-year-old grappling with Hulk Hogan, despite being the same height.
"He was a very large, a very powerful man" Wilson recalled, before stating he was scared he could be rendered unconscious if hit once more.
Claiming his training kicked in, he ruled out mace immediately as it could have been taken and used against him, he says: "The only option left was my firearm".
Reaching for the handgun on his hip, he says Brown reached for it and attempted to turn it around to shoot the officer.
Eventually able to wiggle the weapon free and turn it towards Brown he warned: "Get back or I'm going to shoot you".
"You're too much of a p**** to shoot me" Brown allegedly replied before the struggle for the gun continued, jamming the first two times that Wilson tried to pull the trigger.
Successful on the third try, he fired the first shot at Brown from inside the vehicle - the first time he had ever fired a gun in his five-year career as a police officer.
Startling both himself and Brown who then backed up a few inches, he explained: "We were both in shock. It was shocking having to pull the trigger. It was also shocking that this was the only option that I had".
But he says that the first shot didn't stop Brown who became "even angrier", coming back at the officer once more who then fired more shots, sending Brown running from the vehicle.
Calling for back up he said that shots had been fired, but it was a call to his fellow officers that none of them received. Wilson claims it's because the radio had been turned to channel 3 from the usual channel 1 in the midst of the struggle.
Giving chase to Brown because it's not his job to "sit and wait", he wanted to keep the teen in sight for when back-up would arrive.
Then he says Brown turned around and started to move towards the officer again, reaching towards his waistband which Wilson thought could be his attempts at taking out a concealed weapon.
Witness reports refute this, saying that Brown was lifting his hands in surrender.
"My initial thought was: 'is there a weapon in there?" Wilson said, and fearing for his life as the teen began to "charge" towards him, Wilson claims he thought: "Can I shoot this guy? Legally can I? And the answer was I have to, he will kill me if he gets to me."
Firing a series of shots, he believed at the time that the teen had been hit at least once and so he ordered him to stop and get on the ground, but Brown kept running.
Firing a second series of shots he made the order once more but claims Brown seemed "unfazed".
With Brown just 15 feet away, Wilson began to 'backpedal', afraid he could be tackled, and that's when the fatal shot was fired into the teenager's head.
"I saw the face he had go black" Wilson says, before stating that because of the speed he was running at he landed on his face and his feet were thrown into the air.
"I knew immediately that he had passed" says the officer.
And now Wilson insists that he could not have prevented Brown's death by doing anything differently.
He also denies the allegations from witnesses that say he snapped during the altercation, saying "the only emotion I ever felt was fear and then it was survival and training".
Adamant that race didn't play a role in his actions that day, he would have "no question" also shot Brown if he were white, given the same circumstances.
Further excerpts of the interview are to air Wednesday morning on Good Morning America.
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