TROY – The officer who shot and injured a man last year — in an incident that spurred a civil rights march after video of the aftermath showed a bloodied suspect — will not face criminal charges, the special prosecutor on the case announced Monday.

The grand jury declined to file charges against officer Jarrod Iler in connection with the Aug. 15, 2017 shooting of Dahmeek McDonald, finding Iler was justified in firing on McDonald's vehicle as it drove toward him, according to a statement released Monday by Schenectady County District Attorney Robert Carney's office.

A ballistics analysis done by the FBI "largely corroborated" Iler's assertion that he fired four shots at McDonald's vehicle as it came toward him, the statement said. All four shots hit the vehicle. Two hit the windshield and two hit the driver's side door. One bullet went through McDonald's forearm and the other grazed his temple.

Iler told investigators he fired the four shots as McDonald's vehicle moved toward him, but McDonald said the fourth shot, the one that hit him in the forearm, was fired after he was pulled out of the car. McDonald told investigators he was trying to drive away from police when the shooting started.

Carney said the shooting was not captured on video, but video from a nearby security camera showed four shell casings "entered the screen of vision as they were ejected from Iler's weapon" and all four were fired within seconds of one another.

Iler waived immunity and testified in front of the grand jury, Carney said. He said investigators from his office twice interviewed McDonald, but would not say if McDonald spoke to the grand jury too.

However, McDonald's lawyer, Mark Mishler, said McDonald spoke to the grand jury.

"We are dismayed, but not surprised by the outcome of this investigation, which unfortunately, fits into a now standard pattern in this country by which police officers who use deadly physical force against unarmed civilians are rarely charged," Mishler said in a prepared statement released Monday. "And there is an additional troubling aspect to the pattern, which this case also fits: Most of the victims of such use of deadly physical force by police officers are people of color."

Mishler went on the take issue with how Carney handled the investigation. "Generally, district attorneys only present grand juries with the evidence that is needed to obtain an indictment," he wrote.

"The exception to this standard mode of operation appears to be when a police officer is the potential target," Mishler wrote. 'Then, and only then, do DAs use a strategy of presenting every witness and every piece of evidence to the grand jury so that the grand jury must sort through voluminous evidence ... We believe sufficient evidence existed to charge Officer Iler for his use of deadly physical force against Dahmeek McDonald."

The report issued Monday did not include information from the testimony that occurred in front of the grand jury, but rather statements that were given to investigators, Carney said. The investigation was lead by Assistant District Attorney Amy Burock.

McDonald recovered from the injuries. He did not have a firearm when the incident happened. Carney's report said McDonald had cocaine on him and may have fled to avoid a charge.

On a video made in the aftermath of the gunfire and shared with reporters last year, McDonald repeatedly yells: "Why'd you all shoot me? Why'd you all shoot me?"

As flowing blood quickly covers McDonald's face, bystanders urge police to get him medical care. "Freaky, Freaky, just keep talking to me," a woman calls to him as her cellphone camera records the scene. Later, she screams, "Get him to the hospital."

The shooting led to protests in Troy, with marchers demanding the prosecution of Iler.

The incident happened as the city was still reeling from another police shooting.

At the time, the Attorney General's office was investigation the death of Edson Thevenin, who was shot by Troy police Sgt. Randall French on April 17, 2016. State prosecutors later said that ballistics evidence showed French was not pinned by Thevenin's vehicle as French asserted.

French never faced charges. He was granted immunity by Rensselaer County District Attorney Joel Abelove, who presented the case to a grand jury days after Thevenin was killed. Abelove was later charged with lying to a grand jury and manipulating the investigation but a judge later dismissed the charges. The Attorney General is appealing that ruling.

Carney was named special of the prosecutor McDonald case in September after Abelove recused his office due to a conflict of interest. The investigation took 10 months to complete with Burock presenting 47 witnesses testifying over 11 days before the grand jury.

It took months to gather all of the data related to the case, which involved the FBI, State Police and Albany police. "It was a massive effort that involved a lot of people," Burock said.

"It was of utmost importance that a full and independent review of this incident was conducted, and we are grateful for the assistance from local law enforcement agencies and district attorney's office for their diligence, professionalism and the thoroughness with which they approached this task," Mayor Patrick Madden said.

In his statement on the McDonald case, Carney wades into the Thevenin case. Carney notes the office of the Attorney General stated that police in New York, Boston and Chicago urge officers to move out of the way of moving vehicles rather than opening fire.

"In an era when terrorists are now using vehicles deliberately to run down and kill pedestrians as recently happened in New York City I suspect that those jurisdictions may be rethinking the policy recommended by the OAG," Carney wrote.

These policies are decades old in some cases such as in New York City.

"The use of vehicles to deliberately hurt people is, unfortunately, not a new phenomenon," said Amy Spitalnick, communications director for the state Attorney General.

"The policies of the NYPD and other police agencies in Denver, Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., and Los Angeles — all of which deal with terror threats on a regular basis — provide that officers may not discharge their weapons at a vehicle unless deadly physical force is being used against the officer by means other than the moving vehicle itself. These jurisdictions have not seen a related increase in their rates of officer injuries," Spitalnick said.

McDonald was wanted for a parole violation and had removed a GPS ankle monitoring bracelet before he was spotted by Iler near the intersection of Eighth and Rensselaer streets. Parole officers were advised by a confidential informant that McDonald was near Eighth and Rensselaer streets.

According to Carney, Iler said he drove his patrol car to that location and spotted a car matching the description of McDonald’s vehicle. Iler partially blocked that vehicle with his police vehicle and got out of the car when he spotted and recognized McDonald as the driver of that vehicle.

Officer Nick Laviano, president of the Troy Police Benevolent Association, said the shooting incident was not an easy case, noting the "anti-law enforcement attitudes across the country."

Laviano said the PBA hopes the city and its residents could move forward "and we can mend any tarnished relationships between the police department and the community that may arise from this decision."