A Union City police officer speaks for the first time after a grand jury cleared him of criminal charges in the shooting death of 19-year-old Ariston Waiters.

Authorities say witnesses saw Waiters fire shots into the air during a fight in the Hickory Park subdivision December 14, 2011, prompting the call to police.  Waiters ran when police arrived. Officer Luther Lewis fired his gun during a struggle for his gun. 

Lewis tells Channel 2 Action News the last few months have been tough.

"I've been getting hammered emotionally for six months. I've had to move my family because of threats. Separated from my job, separated from my family," said Lewis.

"The whole thing took about 30 seconds from start to finish. Officer Lewis was in a desperate fight for his life," said Lewis' attorney Al Dixon.

Dixon said testimony proves two witnesses lied about the incident and Lewis did not shoot Waiters in the back.

"There was DNA on the gun that would have come from the skin cells from Mr. Waiters ... which proves that Waiters had had his hand and was trying to get the gun," said Dixon.

A Fulton County Medical Examiner’s office autopsy report showed that Waiters was shot twice in the back. The GBI opened an investigation and in January the case was turned over to the Fulton County District Attorney's public integrity unit. Prosecutors presented the case to the grand jury on Wednesday.