A judge has ordered that the three white construction workers accused of assaulting a Black off-duty cop who drove into their work zone last month remain in jail on bonds ranging from $100,000 to $250,000. The decision came after a hearing yesterday in which the workers’ attorneys argued that the prosecutors are biased because the alleged victim is a police officer. They sought to have bond for all three men significantly reduced.
“This is a case of prosecutors protecting police officers who are conducting investigations of other police officers,” said John Rogers, who represents road worker Matthew Devlin, 39.
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The local chapter of the NAACP and the Ethical Society of Police, a union that represents Black officers, have decried the incident that led to the charges, saying it “echoes the ugly history of white supremacy.” The president of the St. Louis City NAACP, Adolphus Pruitt, has asked the FBI to get involved.
But in court yesterday, Rogers and the other two men’s attorneys argued that they’d been overcharged.
Rogers says that the Black officer, whose name has not been made public, pulled into the work zone near the intersection of Lindbergh and Lemay Ferry in South St. Louis County around 10:30 p.m. on September 26, got out of his car, and instigated a verbal altercation. Brianne Besheer, an attorney for 23-year-old Garrett Gibbs, described the officer’s conduct by saying, “There was a person acting crazy.” She says it’s significant that when Gibbs saw something brewing, his first instinct was to snap a photo of the off-duty officer’s car—suggesting that the workers believed the motorist was out of line.
According to Besheer, the officer took a swing at Devlin, missed, and hit Gibbs.
However, the charging documents allege that Devlin hurled racial slurs at the officer and beat him with a hard hat while Gibbs and his coworker Donnie Hurley held him down. Gibbs and Hurley each face two assault charges and one apiece of kidnapping and armed criminal action. Devlin faces three charges of first-degree assault, two counts of armed criminal action, and one of kidnapping.
Their lawyers condemned the language but said the case hinged on the off-duty officer’s conduct.
“There was some language that was purportedly used that no one should be proud of, but in this particular case, it had nothing to do with what should be a legitimate police investigation of bad acts by an off-duty member of the St Louis County Police Department,” Rogers told SLM after the hearing.
He said the prosecution goes too far.
“Assuming what [prosecutors] said was true, they were detaining an individual while the construction company was calling law enforcement to assist. … That is not kidnapping,” he added.
Rogers also scoffed in front of St. Louis County Circuit Judge John Newsham at the idea that the case against Devlin warranted six felonies even under the prosecutors’ version of the events. He pointed out that the weapon used to justify the use of the word “armed” was a hard hat.
Speaking with SLM, the prosecutor on the case, Jessica Hathaway, said that the kidnapping charges are warranted given how the kidnapping statute is written; what was once charged as felonious restraint is now considered kidnapping.
In front of the judge, she called the alleged conduct “ugly, horrific.”
Hathaway added that the fact she was involved in the case is a sign that there is no bias in favor of law enforcement. Hathaway heads an office for the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney that handles allegations of police misconduct. She said that she was brought into the case not knowing who was the victim and who was the aggressor. Her office has simply followed the facts by deciding to charge the three workers. “The idea that this was not thoroughly investigated from all sides prior to charges is false,” she told the judge.
Gibbs previously alleged that the Black officer was impaired, but was not given a Breathalyzer. Police said yesterday for officer passed field sobriety tests.
Whether it was a kidnapping and assault or three men detaining an aggressive, or intoxicated, motorist, the September 26 incident came to an end when uniformed police arrived. The three men were initially allowed to go back to work, whereas the off-duty officer was placed in handcuffs, a fact the NAACP has decried.
On hand at yesterday’s hearing was civil rights activist Reverend Philip Duvall, who told SLM, “I am comfortable to say that these charges will not only stick, there should be additional hate crime charges, based on the information that we hear swirling.” He also echoed comments from the president of the local NAACP, criticizing the officers who showed up on the scene and quickly cuffed the off-duty officer. “After he had already identified that he was one of theirs, why not take off the cuffs?”
Devlin has no felony conviction on his records, Hurley has “no significant criminal history” and Gibbs had never before been arrested, their attorneys said.
All three men were still in jail as of last night, with Devlin being held on $250,000 bond while bond for Gibbs and Hurley remains at $100,000.
