Video: Protesters want accountability, 'how about not mowing down cops with a car?

What happened?

Riots broke out in the streets of downtown St. Louis after ex-police officer, Jason Stockley, was found not guilty in the shooting death of Anthony Lamar Smith.

The incident:

• December 2011, Stockley shot and killed Smith after a suspected drug transaction and a high-speed chase.
• When approached by officers in a Church’s Chicken parking lot, Smith backed into the police SUV, nearly hitting Stockley, as can be seen in three separate videos.
• During the ensuing chase, Stockley reported that shots had been fired and said, “Going to kill this (expletive), don’t you know it,” over the police radio, according to court records.
• The chase ending in a crash. Stockley then shot Smith five times. Smith was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
• In 2013, a federal wrongful-death lawsuit in connection with the shooting was settled by the Board of Police Commissioners.
• April 2016, activists gathered in front of City Hall demanding charges against Stockley.
• May 2016, Stockley was charged with first-degree murder.
• Friday, September 15, St. Louis Circuit court Judge Timothy Wilson acquitted Stockley, saying he was “simply not firmly convinced of defendant’s guilt,” according to the New York Times.

Dana’s take:

“These officers already know that this guy [Smith] walked away from parole. They already know that he’s a prohibited possessor. They know that he’s a drug dealer -- here the nation is already involved in an opioid epidemic and this guy is dealing heroin,” Dana said, explaining what the police officers knew about Smith. “He’s got this huge rap sheet. They come up and he’s engaged in the very activity which got him behind bars in the first place. They approach the car after a high-speed chase. It looks like he’s reaching for something after he tried to run them down with the car. I’m not sure why people aren’t concerned about these officers who are putting their lives on the line to protect people from drug dealers that are plummeting this country into an opioid crisis.”

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