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St. Louis police arrested dozens of protesters in 2017 after a judge acquitted a white policeman after the shooting death of a black man. (Jeff Roberson / AP)
When a judge acquitted a white officer from St. Louis in September 2017 for shooting a young black man, the police prepared for massive demonstrations. But Dustin Boone, an officer in the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, was not getting ready for the discomfort he was being pumped.
"It's going to become IGNORANT tonight!", He sent him a text on September 15, 2017, day of the verdict. "It will be very fun to beat those heads when the sun goes down and no one can tell us apart!"
Two days later, prosecutors say that's exactly what Boone did. to a black protester. Boone, 35, and two other officers, Randy Hays, 31, and Christopher Myers, 27, threw a man to the ground and kicked and beat him with a riot baton, even if he complied with their instructions.
But the three policemen did not know that it was actually a 22-year-old police veteran who was working undercover, that they were beating so much that [19459014hecouldnoteatandlost20poundsOnThursdayafederalgrandjurychargedthethreeofficerswiththeassaultTheyalsochargedthemenandanotherofficerBaileyColletta25fromtheattackProsecutorsissuedtextmessagesshowingofficersboastingthattheyhadassaultedprotestersHaysnotingthat"feelingsmartisgood"
For the leaders of the protesters, the federal charges are a measure of welcome justice – but also a sign of the distance St Louis still has to go four years after the Ferguson protests helped to galvanize a national movement for police accountability.
"If this is not the case, was not a policeman – and especially a black policeman – a victim of this aggression, to be at this stage? "Rev. Darryl Gray, one of the organizers of the protest, told the Washington Post. "We have had several incidents where protesters and activists have been victims of excessive use of force and police who have abused their authority without ever seeing such accusations."
The 2017 protests were centered on the case of officer Jason Stockley, who had killed Anthony Lamar Smith, 24, in December 2011 after pursuing him after an alleged drug purchase. Stockley had an AK-47 unauthorized staff on the scene and was recorded on a dashboard camera during the chase by saying that he was "going to kill" Smith. Moments later, after Smith's accident, Stockley fired five deadly shots in his car.
In 2016, local prosecutors accused Stockley of first-degree murder and claimed that the officer had planted a revolver in Smith's car after the murder. When a judge acquitted him on September 15, 2017, activists from the demonstrations in Ferguson had staged mass demonstrations around St. Louis.
Gray said he expected the police to act the same way as during Ferguson, when heavily militarized officers stormed. protesters, attracting national condemnation of civil rights defenders. "We knew that since 2014, the police culture has not changed," he said. "We knew it was not going to be nice."
In fact, texts by Boone, Hays, and Myers suggest that these officers were explicitly anxious to take on violent attacks. The day the verdict was made public, Myers suggested to them to "smash their mouths". Boone is boasted of how he would beat "people who act badly", "catch" protesters and "swing" them. [19659012] When asked how he was doing during the protests two days after the verdict, Boone said, "Many cops are hurting, but it's always a pleasure to beat the people who deserve it. . . I enjoy every night.
The same day, Boone, Hays and Myers met a man identified as L.H. in federal documents. According to the post-St. Louis expedition, it was actually Luther Hall, a former city policeman working under cover during the demonstrations. Although he made no effort to resist, the three officers brutally beat Hall, who found himself with a two-centimeter hole above his lip, a wounded coccyx, and back injuries requiring surgery. he still has not recovered enough to return to work, the Post-Dispatch daily reported.
In the following weeks, the three police officers made false statements about the arrest and even made direct contact with Hall to try to dissuade him. prosecute charges. Myers also destroyed Hall's cell phone, prosecutors said. Colletta, who had a romantic relationship with Hays, also lied to investigators about the assault, according to the indictment.
Boone, Hays and Myers face charges of Hall's deprivation of his constitutional rights and conspiracy to obstruct justice. Myers also faces a charge of destruction of evidence and Colletta is accused of obstructing, influencing or embarrassing a grand jury.
The four officers are represented by police union lawyers who declined to comment on the Post-Dispatch case. Jeff Roorda, the union leader, told Post-Dispatch, "We encourage elected officials, the media and the public to allow them to appear in court without speculation about their guilt or innocence."
Local activists have been particularly struck by the SMSs sent by prosecutors. "Representative of the State of Missouri, Bruce Franks Jr. (D) has made himself known as a leader during protests in Ferguson and has initiated a lawsuit against St. Louis County police for his arrest at a 2014 protest. Earlier this week, he released body camera footage also showing police officers boasting of brutalizing protesters.
"These police are thrilled and proud to have beaten protesters and people who exercise their rights," Franks told the Washington Post the new text messages. "My case dates back to 2014 and i It's now 2017. This culture has not changed. "
Franks plans to introduce legislation to further limit the use of force by police and provide more legal protections to the protesters. But he also urged prosecutors to take a closer look at the 2017 protests, which led to dozens of arrests, including a Post-Dispatch reporter who initiated at least 14 lawsuits about the reaction. of the police.
not just those officers, "said Franks. "There were more officers involved. We have superiors who have been involved. "
So gloomy that the indictment bears witness to the actions of the police during the protests, Gray sees hope in the revealed history.
" Maybe that this policeman being beaten by three himself, who deliberately harmed someone who was docile and who did not resist, is perhaps what is needed in this country, this city and this region to finally say, "We did not go far enough to hold the police accountable." "Gray said.
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