St Louis - Hundreds of protesters poured
into St Louis streets on Friday, and some briefly scuffled with
police, after a Missouri judge acquitted a former white police
officer of murder in the 2011 fatal shooting of a black man
suspected of dealing drugs.
With National Guard troops placed on standby, authorities
urged calm in the aftermath of a case reminiscent of the
circumstances that spawned racially charged unrest in the nearby
suburb of Ferguson, giving rise to the Black Lives Matter
movement in 2014.
Police said several rocks and water bottles were thrown
early on, and officers were seen in video footage and by
eyewitnesses dousing at least five people with pepper spray near
the courthouse.
The protests, while boisterous, were otherwise largely
peaceful, with no serious injuries or acts of vandalism reported
until late Friday night, when police said two officers were
taken to a hospital after being struck by bricks.
"This violence wont' be tolerated," Missouri Governor Eric
Greitens said on Twitter.
As night fell, police reported making at least 13 arrests.
One group of demonstrators tried to climb onto Interstate 40
but were blocked by police. Another group blocked an
intersection by sitting down in the street for six minutes of
silence.
After most protesters drifted away late on Friday, a
smaller group of individuals police described as "agitators"
lingered on the streets in an upscale neighborhood near the
mayor's home, taunting officers who arrived in riot gear by the
busload.
Police fired volleys of tear gas as they ordered the crowd
to disperse amid reports of windows being broken at one house.
PROSECUTORS SAID GUN PLANTED IN SMITH'S CAR
The outcry was prompted by Friday's verdict, rendered five
weeks after the conclusion of a non-jury trial, finding former
city policeman Jason Stockley, 36, not guilty of first-degree
murder in the shooting death of Anthony Lamar Smith, 24.
This undated family photo supplied by Christina Wilson shows Anthony Lamar Smith holding his daughter Autumn Smith.
This undated file photo provided by the St. Louis Police Department shows former St. Louis police officer Jason Stockley.
Smith was shot five times in his car after trying to flee
Stockley and his partner on December 20, 2011, following an alleged
drug deal, authorities said.
During the pursuit, Stockley could be heard saying on an
internal police car video he was going to kill Smith,
prosecutors said.
At Stockley's direction, his partner, who was driving,
slammed the police cruiser into Smith's vehicle and they came to
a stop, court documents said. Stockley then approached Smith's
car and opened fire with his service weapon.
The former policeman believed Smith was armed, defence
attorneys said, and a gun was found in the car. But prosecutors
argued Stockley planted the weapon and that the gun had only
Stockley's DNA on it.
Following the verdict, some 600 protesters marched through
downtown St. Louis, chanting "No justice, no peace" and "Hey
hey! Ho ho! These killer cops have got to go!" Some held "Black
Lives Matter" signs.
Later in the evening, several hundred protesters moved from
the courthouse to the city's popular restaurant neighborhood,
the Central West End, and the crowd began to grow again.
"I’m sad, I’m hurt, I’m mad,” the Reverend Clinton Stancil
of the Wayman AME Church in St. Louis said by telephone. “We
haven’t made any progress since Ferguson, that’s clear. Cops can
still kill us with impunity."
Stockley's attorney, Neil Bruntrager, said his client was
relieved at the verdict. “It’s been a long road for him,”
Bruntrager said.
In his ruling, Judge Timothy Wilson said he doubted the
prosecution's claim the gun was planted, writing: "the court
observes, based on its nearly 30 years on the bench, that an
urban heroin dealer not in possession of a firearm would be an
anomaly."
The comment sparked outrage by protesters on the street and
on social media.
Murder convictions against law enforcement officers are
rare. In recent years grand juries have declined to even charge
officers involved in the 2014 fatal shooting of Michael Brown,
18, which triggered waves of violent protests in Ferguson, and
in the choking death of Eric Garner, 43, in New York. Both were
unarmed and black.
Brown's father, Michael Brown Sr., voiced his frustration
after Friday's verdict.
"You all know this ain't right and you all continue to do
this to us," he told a St. Louis television station. "Like we
don't mean nothing, like we're rats, trash, dogs in the streets.
Right now, I'm praying for my city because my people are tired
of this."
St. Louis prosecutor Kimberly Gardner said she was
disappointed and called on protesters to avoid violence.
“I understand the verdict has created anger and frustration
for many in our community," she told reporters at the
courthouse.
Stockley waived his right to a jury trial, allowing the
judge to decide. He left the St. Louis Metropolitan Police
Department in 2013 and was arrested last year.
Smith's family settled a lawsuit against the city for
$900 000 in 2013, according to Al Watkins, an attorney for
Smith's fiancee, Christina Wilson.