Officer appeals firing in Alton Sterling’s fatal shooting

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) – A white police officer who shot and killed a black man during a struggle outside a Baton Rouge convenience store has appealed his firing over the deadly confrontation nearly two years ago.
  
An attorney for the former officer, Blane Salamoni, says he filed the appeal with a civil service board Thursday.
  
Baton Rouge Police Chief Murphy Paul fired Salamoni on March 30, less than a week after Louisiana’s attorney general ruled out state criminal charges in Alton Sterling’s July 2016 shooting death.
  
Salamoni shot Sterling six times after he and a second white officer, Howie Lake II, wrestled Sterling to the ground. Lake, who didn’t fire his gun, was suspended three days.
  
Paul said he fired Salamoni for violating policies on use of force and "command of temper."