Key witness in Michael Brown shooting arrested

ST. LOUIS, May 7 (UPI) -- The man walking with Michael Brown when he was fatally shot by a Ferguson, Mo., police officer, was arrested Wednesday, accused of interfering in an arrest and discarding suspected narcotics.

Dorian Johnson has not been charged, but was with a group of people suspected of having weapons. He is accused of approaching an officer to stop an arrest. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Johnson was arrested for resisting arrest.

Police also said he was seen throwing narcotics on the ground. The Post-Dispatch reported he allegedly had a cough medicine mixed with an illegal narcotic.

Johnson's arrest comes the same day he announced a lawsuit against the city of Ferguson and the police department, among others, in Brown's death. He alleges he suffered emotional and psychological scars on the day former officer Darren Wilson shot and killed Brown. He is seeking $25,000 in damages.