The South Bend policeman who shot and killed a black man resigns

A white policeman who shot dead a black man last month in South Bend, Indiana, resigned, officials said Monday.

Police union president Harvey Mills said work-related stress, lawsuits, national media attention and "hateful social media talk were tough" for the police, Sgt. Ryan O'Neill and his family.

O'Neill shot Eric Logan, 53, on June 16, after apparently approaching the officer with a knife, authorities said.

This assassination provoked fury among the black residents of South Bend. Many were frustrated by a body camera initiative launched by Democratic presidential mayor Pete Buttigieg.

The program was intended to help repair the degraded relationship between the city's police department and minorities. Still, O Neill did not have his camera on and Logan's murder was not recorded.

The murder and its aftermath have revived South Bend's racial tensions in favor of Buttigieg, who had previously been criticized for demoting the city's first black police chief. He canceled presidential fundraisers and policies to return to South Bend. He was heckled by angry locals when he arrived on the spot.

Asked during last month's presidential debate, why only 6 percent of South Bend police are black while 26 percent of the population is black, Buttigieg said, "I could not do it."

Mills said O'Neill was the subject of a special investigation by the prosecutor, a lawsuit for the violation of civil rights and a possible discipline of the department as a result of the murder – "fights" that are "Just too much for the Sgt. O'Neill and his family to start now, "said Mills.

"His resignation will allow him to focus on these challenges and to assist his wife with their three children, including a newborn," Mills added.

Mills said he was confident that an investigation into the shooting would determine that O'Neill's actions were justified.