Former officer found not guilty in a 2017 downtown arrest
After a trial before a judge, the arrest was found lawful and the force used objectively reasonable.
What happened
In August 2017 officers answered a call about a car doing doughnuts in the parking lot of a downtown building. A man came outside to ask why his car was being towed. During his arrest he was struck with a flashlight, and his jaw was broken.
A year later the arresting officer was charged with assault.
The outcome
The case was tried before a judge in June 2021. The judge found that the officer was making a lawful arrest, that the force he used was objectively reasonable given what he faced at the scene, and that he was justified in using it. He was found not guilty.
Read the coverage
- FOX 2 “Ex-St. Louis Police officer acquitted in assault case” · Free to read
- St. Louis Post-Dispatch “Judge acquits ex-St. Louis police officer of assault in arrest that broke man’s jaw” · A subscription may be required
Past results afford no guarantee of future results, and every case is different and must be judged on its own merits. The summaries are written by the office from published reports; each article belongs to its publisher, and some require a subscription.
Photograph: Saint Louis Skyline by Jwolff, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; cropped.
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