Hundreds of Webster Groves residents have said they are concerned about the hire of Neil Bruntrager – the attorney who represented then-police officers Darren Wilson and Jason Stockley in their high-profile excessive force cases – as Webster’s new city attorney.
Almost 300 Webster residents have signed an open letter that claims that city leaders’ hire of Bruntrager points to their tone-deafness to the regional conversation and work around racial equity. Wilson was a Ferguson police officer who shot and killed Mike Brown in August 2014. And Stockley was a St. Louis police officer who shot and killed Lamar Anthony Smith in 2011, and was found not guilty of murdering Smith in September 2017.
“These cases are highly symbolic and painful for our town and region at large,” states the open letter. “But our concern isn’t focused on this individual. Rather, the hire has led to community-wide revelations about the limitations of the hiring process that underscore the need for some revision and additional safeguards.”
Webster resident Adelaide Lancaster, who is one of the organizers for the open letter, said she and other residents learned about Bruntrager’s selection in early December. Last week, they reached out to City Council members and the mayor about their concerns but did not receive any responses. They then released the letter on Monday and have still not heard from city leaders.
However, Lancaster said they have received much support for the letter from the Webster community, as well as regional leaders. Their next step is to attend the City Council meeting on Tuesday.
“This is definitely informed by the regional equity work that has been done over the last several years,” Lancaster said. “There will be some regional leadership at the City Council meeting as well.”
The St. Louis American reached out to Mayor Gerry Welch and City Manager Steve Wylie but has not yet received a response.
Terrell Carter is an African-American pastor at Webster Groves Baptist Church, and he’s also a former St. Louis police officer who was represented by Bruntrager on two cases as a then-police union member. Carter said he’s been explaining to people that Bruntrager has represented both black and white officers and will represent whoever the police union asks him to defend. That said, he agrees with the open letter and has concerns about Bruntrager’s hire.
“I understand how frustrating this is – the optics of it – because he has successfully defended two white officers who killed black citizens,” Carter said. “Also, as a former [St. Louis city] officer who quit because all of the things that are wrong with the department, I also have a concern about what this does to the style of policing that is currently practiced in Webster.”
Carter said that he was once pulled over by a Webster police officer who told him that he stopped him because he was going the speed limit – and that looked suspicious. And he had more stories like this.
“The question is not Mr. Bruntrager’s skills,” Carter said, “but what kind of signal does it send to people who live in the community and what [the leadership’s] value is or isn’t.”
Last week, clergy members gathered together to discuss the issue, and two City Council members attended, including Councilwoman Laura Arnold. These same two council members also attended a meeting on December 13 with the Alliance of Interracial Dignity. At the meetings, Arnold explained that Bruntrager was actually not the city’s first choice, Carter said; he was the third choice, but the first two candidates declined because they didn’t want to relocate to Webster. The city attorney must live within Webster, and this is one thing that residents say they would like to change in the open letter.
Arnold also explained that the city attorney’s hire has been on the agendas of the City Council meetings. However, Carter said they responded back to her, “We understand that you did your due diligence, but when it’s something this important you should go above and beyond to make sure residents know what’s happening.”
Arnold seemed open to hearing the community’s concerns and looking at the situation as a learning opportunity, Carter said.
Welch told the Webster-Kirkwood Times that Bruntrager was a strong candidate who not only fit the job’s many qualifications, but also fit the city charter’s requirement that the city attorney reside within Webster Groves.
Bruntrager, who has lived in Webster for 30 years, has experience in general municipal law including land use and zoning, litigation, board interaction, legal document preparation and labor relations. He has also served as a municipal judge.
“We were all very aware of Mr. Bruntrager’s role in defending several police officers, but that is not what we hired him for,” Welch said. “Our basis for hiring a city attorney was a broad municipal-based experience because there are many facets to the city attorney’s job. We believe Mr. Bruntrager has the ability, experience and skills to represent the city in that regard, which is why the council unanimously supported his hire.”
The open letter calls on city leaders to revise hiring policies and to undergo anti-racism/anti-bias training, among other things.
“This is about our collective imperative: to work together to do better by more people,” the letter states. “To learn from recent history. To rectify injustice. To take ownership of our responsibilities to our community. To build systems that ensure we expect and deliver on the best we can do. We believe our lens of racial justice needs strengthening.”
