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St Louis violence flares over acquittal of white officer in death of black man More protests expected in St Louis over acquittal of white officer in police killing
(about 3 hours later)
Demonstrators were expected to reconvene near St Louis on Sunday afternoon for a third day of protests following the acquittal of a white former police officer in the fatal shooting of a black man. Demonstrators were expected to reconvene near St Louis on Sunday afternoon for a third day of protests, following the acquittal of a white former police officer in the fatal shooting of a black man.
Protests turned violent for a second night late on Saturday, as a small group of demonstrators refused to disperse, breaking windows at dozens of businesses and throwing objects at police, who moved in with hundreds of officers in riot gear to make arrests. Jason Stockley, the officer who shot dead Anthony Lamar Smith in 2011, told a city newspaper he was “just not the guy” to blame.
The confrontation took place in the Delmar Loop area of University City, a suburb about 10 miles west of St Louis near Washington University. The area is known for concert venues, restaurants, shops and bars and includes the Blueberry Hill club where rock legend Chuck Berry played for many years. Late on Saturday in the Delmar Loop area of University City, a suburb about 10 miles west of downtown St Louis known for concert venues and night life, a group of demonstrators refused to disperse, broke windows and threw objects at police. Officers moved in with riot gear and armoured vehicles and the disturbances resulted in several arrests.
City and county police tweeted that they had arrested at least nine people. During demonstrations on Friday night, police said 32 people were arrested and 10 officers injured.
Demonstrators have been protesting a judge’s ruling on Friday clearing ex-officer Jason Stockley of first-degree murder in the 2011 shooting of 24-year-old Anthony Lamar Smith. The St Louis Post-Dispatch published an exclusive interview with Stockley on Friday. “I can feel for and I understand what the family is going through and I know everyone wants someone to blame, but I’m just not the guy,” he said.
The initial Saturday protest march ended with organizers calling for people to leave and reconvene on Sunday afternoon. But a few dozen protesters refused to go. Police ordered them to disperse, saying the protest was unlawful. Hundreds of police in riot gear eventually moved in with armored vehicles. The demonstrators retreated, breaking windows with trash cans and throwing objects at police. St Louis circuit judge Timothy Wilson ruled that the state had not proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Stockley “did not act in self-defense” when he shot Smith, 24. Stockley shot Smith after the suspected drug dealer fled from officers trying to arrest him. Stockley, 36, testified he felt he was in danger because he saw Smith holding a silver revolver when he backed his car toward officers then sped away.
Several protesters were seen in handcuffs. Police were seen carrying one handcuffed man away from the scene upside down. At least one demonstrator was treated after he was hit with pepper spray. Prosecutors said Stockley planted a gun in Smith’s car. The officer’s DNA was on the weapon but Smith’s was not. Dashcam video from Stockley’s cruiser recorded him saying he was “going to kill this motherfucker”. Less than a minute later, he shot Smith five times.
After the spasm of violence ended, a reporter for the Associated Press found at least half of the businesses on one side of the street with broken windows along a two block area. “It feels like a burden has been lifted but the burden of having to kill someone never really lifts,” Stockley told the Post-Dispatch. “The taking of someone’s life is the most significant thing one can do, and it’s not done lightly … My main concern now is for the first responders, the people just trying to go to work and the protesters. I don’t want anyone to be hurt in any way over this.”
Sam Thomas, who was helping his friend clean up the glass from the shattered windows of his business, OSO, a clothing and accessories boutique, said he understood why people were angry. The US justice system is broken and needs to be fixed, Thomas said. The interview is the first time Stockley has publicly addressed the case. “I did not murder Anthony Lamar Smith,” he said. “I did not plant a gun.”
“I’m not saying this is the right way to fix it,” he said of the damage. “The window isn’t murdered. Nobody is going to have a funeral for the window. We can replace it.” Stockley said he understood why video of the shooting looked bad. “Every resisting [arrest] looks bad, it never looks good,” he said. “So what you have to separate are the optics from the facts, and if a person is unwilling to do that, then they’ve already made up their mind and the facts just don’t matter. To those people, there’s nothing that I can do to change their minds.”
On Friday night, nearly three-dozen people were arrested and 11 police officers injured, including a broken jaw and dislocated shoulder. Five officers were taken to hospitals. Police said that 10 businesses were damaged. Protesters also broke a window and spattered red paint on the home of St Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson. Judge Wilson found that the 15 seconds Stockley took to get out of his car, unholster his weapon and fire at Smith proved the incident was not an execution.
The eruption late on Saturday followed a day of noisy but nonviolent demonstrations at suburban shopping malls. Protesters shouted slogans such as “black lives matter” and “it is our duty to fight for our freedom” as they marched through West County Center mall in the city of Des Peres, west of St Louis. A group also demonstrated at Chesterfield Mall in the suburbs and at a regional food festival. Stockley, a West Point graduate and Iraq war veteran, defended his use of an AK-47 with 100 rounds that he used to shoot Smith as justified, given the level of firepower he saw on the city’s streets.
Organizers hoped to spread the impact of the protests beyond predominantly black neighborhoods to those that are mainly white. “I used it as a deterrent and I believed it was better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it,” he told the paper. “I accept full responsibility for violating the rules. But it’s not a moral crime. It’s a rule violation.”
Smith’s death is just one of several high-profile US cases in recent years in which a white officer killed a black suspect, including the 2014 killing of Michael Brown in nearby Ferguson that sparked months of angry and sometimes violent protests. Stockley resigned in 2013 after a suspension for carrying the AK-47. Later he took a job with an oil company in Texas. It was not until May 2016 that he was charged with first-degree murder. He said that decision was “an emotional decision for personal and political reasons, not a legal one”.
Stockley shot Smith after the suspected drug dealer fled from officers trying to arrest him. Stockley, 36, testified he felt he was in danger because he saw Smith holding a silver revolver when the suspect backed his car toward officers and sped away. Prosecutors alleged Stockley told his partner he was going to kill Smith while they were pursuing him. At trial, Stockley said he did not remember making the comment. Judge Wilson said the comment lacked context.
Prosecutors said Stockley planted a gun in Smith’s car after the shooting. The officer’s DNA was on the weapon but Smith’s wasn’t. Dashcam video from Stockley’s cruiser recorded him saying he was “going to kill this motherfucker”. Less than a minute later, he shot Smith five times. Stockley said his memory of events was imperfect and that the first time he heard himself saying what he said in the car was when he met the FBI. He said he could only speculate why he had said it, “whether it was in the heat of the moment or whether it was part of a larger conversation”.
Stockley’s lawyer dismissed the comment as “human emotions” during a dangerous pursuit. St Louis Circuit Judge Timothy Wilson, who said prosecutors didn’t prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Stockley murdered Smith, said the statement could be ambiguous. Stockley left the force in 2013, after being suspended for carrying an AK-47 pistol on duty, and moved to Houston. In his interview, Stockley said: “I can tell you with absolute certainty that there was no plan to murder Anthony Smith during a high-speed vehicle pursuit.”
The judge said there was no evidence proving the gun in Smith’s car had been planted, and it had been reasonable to believe Smith was reaching for a gun when he was shot.
Stockley’s lawyer, Neil Bruntrager, told the Washington Post: “This wasn’t a routine traffic stop. This was a drug-related stop. Those by their very nature – they’re deadly.
“It’s important to look at the video, but that’s not all of the evidence … I would encourage people to read Judge [Timothy] Wilson’s opinion because here’s a detailed examination of the facts of the case, and it leaves no stone unturned.”
Bruntrager also represented Darren Wilson, the officer who shot dead Michael Brown, an unarmed teenager, in Ferguson near St Louis in 2014. A grand jury’s decision not to bring charges in that case prompted serious rioting.