On Thursday, the Judge Jimmie Edwards, the city of St. Louis public safety director, released a statement that four St. Louis Police officers have been suspended without pay. Three St. Louis police officers have been indicted on charges of use of excessive force in the assault of an undercover police officer during a 2017 protest following the acquittal of Jason Stockley. Stockley was a former police officer who was charged with murder in the shooting death of Anthony Lamar Smith. An additional officer is being accused of impeding a grand jury investigation relating to the assault. The four officers, according to the indictment, are Dustin Boone, Bailey Colletta, Randy Hays, and Christopher Myers. Charges also include suspicion of lying to the FBI, the agency that conducted the investigation that led to the charges.
You can read the full charges below:
In a release, Edwards said that: “In a few instances, some officers have fallen short of the professionalism required to work in our Police Department. I take accountability and transparency very seriously. When a public safety employee acts outside the scope of their authority, it is imperative that they be held accountable to the fullest extent under the law.
“I believe officers Boone, Coletta [sic], Hayes [sic], and Myers are outliers and that the charges levied against them are isolated and not indicative of our Police Department,” Edwards continued.
Here are four things we know about the officers, alleged incident, and charges:
1. The victim, an undercover police officer working during the protests, is listed in the indictment only as L.H., and was a 22-year veteran of the force. According to the Justice Department: "Count One of the indictment charges defendants Boone, Hays, and Myers with willfully violating L.H.’s constitutional rights when they used unreasonable force on L.H., actions that resulted in bodily injury to L.H. and included the use of a dangerous weapon: shod feet and a riot baton. The indictment specifically alleges that Boone, Hays, and Myers threw L.H. to the ground and then kicked and struck L.H. while he was compliant and not posing a physical threat to anyone.
2. After the protests, according to the Justice Department, Boone, Hays, and Myers are accused of conspiring to keep information about what happened at the protest from getting out to federal authorities. If true, it's obstruction of justice. They are also accused of destroying L.H.'s cellphone. Colletta is the officer accused of lying to a grand jury about the alleged assault.
3. The FBI was able to collect text messages the officers allegedly sent one another before the protest, and the messages are listed in the indictment. One, from Boone, reads: "It's gonna get IGNORANT tonight!! But it's gonna be a lot of fun beating the hell out of these s**theads once the sun goes down and nobody can tell us apart!!!!" Boone also wrote: "I'm on [Sgt **'s] arrest team! me and a BIG OL black dude r the guys that are hands on! No stick or shield..... just f**k people up when they don't act right! ..."
4. The counts carry penalties between 10 and 20 years in prison.
