A former Wisconsin police officer was acquitted of first-degree reckless homicide in the fatal shooting of Sylville Smith, a black man whose death sparked riots in a predominantly African-American neighborhood of Milwaukee.

The shooting happened after a short foot chase in August 2016, during which Smith first dropped his gun and then retrieved it by the barrel and threw it over a fence. He was shot twice by officer Dominique Heaggan-Brown, who is also black, the second bullet hitting Smith in the chest just after he had tossed the gun.

The case is among a number across the United States in re...