No convictions for ex-officers in St. Louis protest beating
The verdicts reignited criticisms that an all-white jury was picked to decide the case.
“If an undercover cop can’t get justice, how will the rest of us who have been maced, shot, beaten, and brutalized ever get justice?” tweeted Cori Bush, a Black congresswoman who represents the Missouri district that includes St. Louis.
Two other officers, Randy Hays and Bailey Colletta, both of whom also are white, previously entered pleas in the case. Hays pleaded guilty in 2018 to one felony count of deprivation of rights under color of law and admitted hitting Hall with a baton and shoving him to the ground. Colletta pleaded guilty to making false statements to the grand jury about the assault.
The St. Louis region was still recovering from unrest that followed the fatal 2014 police shooting of Michael Brown in nearby Ferguson. And two nights after Stockley’s acquittal, demonstrators broke windows downtown. Police made 123 arrests, but protesters and civil rights leaders said many of those arrested were peaceful demonstrators, journalists and onlookers who were brutalized and taunted.
Hall, who had been recording criminal activity during the protests, became separated from his partner while fleeing officers who were firing pepper-spray pellets and bean bag rounds into the crowd.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Carrie Costantin told the jurors that as Hall was complying with orders to get on the ground, he was knocked down, hit, picked up and knocked down again before being attacked with fists, feet and a baton.
Hall said he did not push, fight or pull away from the officers. He said he was stunned. “I couldn’t believe it was happening,” he told the jury.
Prosecutors have said two of the officers, Myers and Boone, were motivated by an eagerness to harm protesters, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
Hall didn’t tell officers he was undercover because he did not want to ruin his chances of working undercover at future protests. A sergeant later recognized Hall and had him pulled aside.
Hall suffered a hole in his lip that had to be stitched closed, injuries to his jaw and injuries to his neck that would later require spinal fusion. He also was unable to eat solid food for weeks, causing him to lose 20 pounds (9.1 kilograms).
Hall sued the department and officers, including Myers and Boone, but recently settled the case against the department for $5 million. He remains with the department. Korte also is still with the department, but the others have all left.
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