Outrage after video shows detective striking man with patrol car, hitting him during arrest
A coalition of community leaders on Monday demanded the firing of a Missouri police detective who struck a fleeing suspect with an unmarked patrol car and then hit the man during a brutal arrest last week.
The unidentified Florissant cop was suspended over the weekend after his police chief watched video of the incident, which was captured by a resident’s doorbell camera Tuesday night in the neighboring city of Dellwood.
The video, obtained by Real Stl News, shows the detective jumping on top of the suspect and hitting him just moments after striking the man with a police SUV right outside a home. The nine-year veteran of the police force then handcuffed the suspect and charged him with drug and resisting arrest.
The 20-year-old man was treated for an ankle injury, but he was not seriously hurt. Another suspect who was with him during the incident was also charged.
The newly formed coalition, which includes clergy members and civil rights organizations, urged authorities to immediately fire the detective. The Rev. Darryl Gray, the political advisor for the St. Louis Clergy Coalition, said in a news conference Monday that despite national protests over George Floyd’s in-custody killing in Minneapolis, “still police officers are not hearing, they’re not listening, they’re not adhering to the voices of the people.”
The detective had been deployed to a different city last Tuesday as part of a coordinated response to the massive demonstrations taking place in the St. Louis metro area.
Two other cops who were working with the detective that night have been placed on leave pending the investigation.
Florissant Police Chief Tim Fagan said he was “deeply concerned” about the footage.
“I’m upset,” he said in a news conference Saturday night. “Obviously there’s such tension right now in the community certainly as it relates to law enforcement. Anytime you see a member of your department involved in a resisting (arrest) you never look good ... to see a citizen struck by a police vehicle is concerning.”
The FBI, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri and the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice are “aware of the situation” and are also investigating the arrest for potential civil rights violations, authorities said in a statement Sunday.
With News Wire Services
