Protests were sparked after St. Louis Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce released a report stating no charges would be filed against the police officer who killed 18-year-old, VonDerrit Myers Jr. last October on Shaw Boulevard in St. Louis.
The initial response was muted on Monday, May 18 following the mid-afternoon announcement, in part because the protest community was fixated on mainstream media’s response to a bloody biker riot in Waco, Texas.
But on Tuesday, Joyce was protested twice – in the morning where she works at the Carnahan Courthouse downtown, and that night at her home in the Holly Hills neighborhood.
Around 50 protesters gathered on the steps of the courts building on Tuesday morning to demand a meeting with Joyce. “We want Jennifer,” the protesters chanted. They demanded a group meeting with the prosecutor. Joyce offered to meet with protestors in groups of two, but was rejected, she said.
Syreeta Myers, the mother of VonDerrit Myers Jr., said that Joyce disrespected her family in the way she released the report.
“When we met with her, she said when she came to a decision, she would sit down with the family and talk with us,” Myers told The American. “She didn’t do that. She called our attorneys at 3:25 p.m. The decision was put out at 3:30 p.m.”
Joyce told The American that she notified the Myers family attorney and the attorney for Police Officer Jason H. Flanery, but did not call the Myers family or Flanery directly. Flanery is the St. Louis police officer who killed Myers on October 8 after a gunfight, Joyce concluded in her report.
Syreeta Myers said she expected no charges to come to Flanery, but says she had a bit hope that Joyce “would do the right thing.”
Joyce argued in her report that there was convincing eyewitness and physical evidence of a gunfight between Myers and Flanery, which justified the killing as self-defense and according to a state statute that outlines justifiable use of lethal force by a police officer.
“You’re not going to kill my son, shut me up, and think I’m going to take your decision and sit on the couch and be okay with it,” Syreeta Myers said. “We want justice, we’re demanding justice and we want it now.”
While on the sidewalk, two women were arrested during the daytime demonstration downtown.
Observing the daytime protest action was Anthony Gray, an attorney for the family of Michael Brown Jr. Gray told The American he was “not too terribly surprised by what resulted from the investigation.”
“I think for quite some time, they’ve been telegraphing that this is the direction they were going to go in,” Gray said.
Gray said controversial police shootings build community distrust in police narratives and make it difficult to believe any decision that relies on evidence gathered by police. Though Joyce prepared her report with an independent investigative team that included, at her request, an assistant U.S. attorney, it relied on evidence gathered by police.
“When you think about South Carolina, the report that officer wrote sounds just like the report that [Flanery] wrote, but only in that case they had a video and here we don’t,” said Gray.
In fact, Flanery’s statement was taken by Sgt. Roger Engelhardt, commander of the city police’s Force Investigative Unit.
“Even if VonDerrit did shoot – and I’m not saying he did or he didn’t – again, how does that justify what has been characterized as multiple shots in the back?” Gray said to The American.
Joyce concluded that Myers shot at Flanery and then ran, as Flanery claimed, so that when Flanery returned fire, he struck Myers six times in the backs of his legs. The fatal shot went to Myers’ head after he fell to the ground and continued shooting, according to the report.
Late Tuesday night, a few dozen protesters gathered outside of Joyce’s home. They placed on her porch illuminated lightboxes honoring Myers and pledging to “fight back.” Again, they asked her to meet with them. Joyce did not come outside. Pepper spray was dispersed by police officers, and at least six demonstrators were arrested, including Hands Up United co-founder Tef Poe and veteran Ferguson jail support activist Keith Rose.
Follow this reporter on Twitter @MzzzMariah.
This story is published as part of a partnership between The St. Louis American and The Huffington Post.
