Ferguson police officer resigns after pointing assault rifle at protesters

The US police officer who pointed an assault rifle at demonstrators in Ferguson and threatened to kill them has resigned from the force despite support from his superiors.

Lieutenant Ray Albers resigned from the St Ann police department on Thursday, just over a week after he was identified by The Huffington Post as the officer caught on camera threatening people protesting the shooting of teenager Michael Brown.

The 46-year-old had served over two decades in the Missouri police department and was a veteran of the US military.

Earlier this week police chief Aaron Jimenez defended Albers raising his weapon at protesters, saying that he was trying to determine whether the crowd posed a threat.

“He saw three to four suspects with bandanas on and saw one of them raise a gun towards him,” Jimenez said.

“Him seeing the gun in the crowd, he had every right to protect himself in fear of danger until he assessed the scene.”

Albers’s resignation comes shortly after another local police officer was fired for a Facebook post in which he suggested that Ferguson protesters should be “put down like rabid dogs.”