Former officer found not guilty over pepper spray at 2017 protests

What happened

On September 29, 2017, during the protests that followed a high-profile verdict earlier that month, an officer used pepper spray on three people near Busch Stadium.

In July 2019, after he had left the department, he was charged with three counts of assault.

The outcome

The case was tried before a judge, who ruled in May 2021. The judge found the use of pepper spray justified: it followed verbal threats of violence, two physical attacks on other officers and several police orders for the crowd to disperse. The officer was found not guilty on all three counts.

Read the coverage

• KSHB 41 (Associated Press) “Ex-St. Louis officer acquitted of assaulting protesters” · Free to read
• St. Louis Post-Dispatch “Judge finds ex-St. Louis officer not guilty of assaulting protesters” · 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: Kiener Plaza Arch and Old Courthouse by Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, National Park Service, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; cropped.