Prosecutors Thursday declined to charge four Barstow police officers who fatally shot a black man while he was at the wheel of a car, finding that they reasonably used deadly force to protect their lives when the vehicle clipped one of them.
Diante Yarber, 26, was driving the black Ford Mustang in a Walmart parking lot when officers fired 30 rounds into the vehicle on April 5. His death received widespread publicity and sparked large protests in front of Barstow City Hall and police headquarters. The incident came a month after the high-profile killing of another African American young man, Stephon Clark, by police in Sacramento.
Yarber was wanted in connection with a stolen vehicle, and officers believed he was likely at the wheel because the car was registered to a relative, a report by the San Bernardino County district attorney’s office said.
“The officers were aware Yarber was a gang member known to carry guns and run from law enforcement,” the report said.
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