I am appalled that, once again, two innocent black shoppers at a major retailer in St. Louis County were racially profiled, wrongly accused of theft, and then brutalized by local police because of the color of their skin.
I strongly support St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell’s decision to conduct a full investigation into the shameful situation which occurred at Sam’s Club in Des Peres.
Marvia and Derek Gray were deprived of their rights and dignity and were then subjected to excessive force that the Des Peres Police Department would have never used if the subjects in question were white.
As videotape evidence clearly shows, we can now see with our own eyes the shocking injustices perpetrated on black people that many would not have believed had they not seen it. The culture of excessive force and racial profiling exercised by these police officers must be rooted out and removed from local law enforcement before another incident like this leads to a tragedy.
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U.S. Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay
St. Louis
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