Darren Wilson, a police officer who fatally shot unarmed, Michael Brown, a black teenager in Ferguson, United States US, has resigned.

According to his lawyer, Wilson said he had to bow out of service because he did not want to put the lives of police colleagues at risk. He had been on administrative leave since the August 9 killing.

There had been an intense rioting in Ferguson in the past week after a jury set up to investigate the facts of the matter decided that the police man should not be charged for the murder.

According to a report by St Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper, Wilson was forced to step down after his police department received threats of violence over his continued stay as an employee of the Police.

“I have been told that my continued employment may put the residents and police officers of the City of Ferguson at risk, which is a circumstance that I cannot allow.

“For obvious reasons, I wanted to wait until the grand jury made their decision before I officially made my decision to resign.

“It was my hope to continue in police work, but the safety of other police officers and the community are of paramount importance to me. It is my hope that my resignation will allow the community to heal,” Wilson was quoted to have said in the notice of resignation.

Testifying against Wilson, some witnesses said the 18-year-old, Brown was unarmed and had his hands up attempting to surrender when he was shot repeatedly by the officer.