Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner was able to achieve swift justice in the latest police incident involving lethal force. Within just 48 hours she called for an independent investigation by the Missouri Highway Patrol and charged Officer Nathaniel Hendren for the shooting death of Officer Katlyn Alix.
But two area mothers whose sons were both killed by police ask, “When will our sons get justice?”
Toni Taylor and Gina Torres have waited as patiently as possible, in the face of law enforcement delay and obfuscation, for action in their cases. They have every reason to believe that investigations into their sons’ deaths are not being handled professionally.
For that reason, the Coalition Against Police Crimes and Repression (CAPCR) wrote a letter on January 29 to the U.S. attorney for Eastern Missouri asking him to investigate the inability of local authorities to conduct proper investigations and reach timely conclusions.
Taylor is the mother of Cary Ball Jr., who was killed by two St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department (SLMPD) officers on April 24, 2013. The police chief at the time, Sam Dotson, asked the FBI to conduct an investigation. In June 2014, the U.S. attorney released a statement declaring the shooting justified on the basis of inconsistencies in witness statements.
The FBI has been unable to support those conclusions with any documented evidence. All the witness statements, excluding those of the two officers, are remarkably consistent in stating that Cary dropped his weapon and raised his hands before the officers began firing.
Attempts to gain documentation of an FBI investigation have been unsuccessful. A Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed on October 15, 2015 asked for documents showing that FBI interviewed the officers, interviewed or polygraphed witnesses, conducted a ballistics analysis or examined the shooting scene. The report resulted in no documents being turned over, according to a report by William Harmening.
In addition to the manifest inadequacy of the FBI investigation, the SLMPD failed to conduct an adequate inquiry into the shooting. The police investigators failed to record the location of Cary’s gun, chart the location of shell casings, or do a shell ejection pattern analysis to determine the locations where police shots were fired. The medical examiner failed to turn over the autopsy results in response to an FOIA request.
CAPCR’s letter to the U.S. attorney requested an investigation to determine if the FBI did in fact conduct an investigation into the Cary Ball Jr. case and whether it was adequate. If it was not, CAPCR asked the office to rescind the earlier finding and determine if an adequate investigation can now be conducted by the FBI.
Torres is the mother of Isaiah Hammett, who was killed in a SLMPD SWAT raid on June 7, 2017. The police department’s Force Investigative Unit (FIU), established in 2014 to conduct more professional investigations of police shootings, gathered evidence at the scene that same day. However, more than 19 months later Isaiah’s mother has no indication that the FIU has completed its investigation into the matter.
The SLMPD claims to have sent the investigative report to the St. Louis circuit attorney. That office has stated the materials they have received are incomplete.
On November 12, 2018, the Riverfront Times published materials that the SLMPD claimed to be the FIU results. However, those documents consisted primarily of police reports and interviews. They did not include any forensic ballistics analysis, any analysis of other evidence collected, or the autopsy report. Clearly, this is not a complete professional report.
CAPCR’s letter asked the U.S. attorney to begin an investigation to determine the extent of Hammett’s FIU investigation and, if it is incomplete, whether there has been a deliberate attempt to cover up or whether the FIU unit is incapable of fulfilling its mandate.
A lack of local leadership in St. Louis makes it necessary to ask for intervention from the U.S. attorney.
In 2017, Mayor Lyda Krewson stood by then-interim police chief Lawrence O’Toole when he encouraged police rioting. When asked about alleged evidence of police obstruction, Public Safety Director Jimmie Edwards’ recent defense of the FIU was an amateurish attempt to change the subject and provide false equivalencies. Rather than supporting Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner’s attempts to provide transparent and swift justice in the Hendren case, Police Chief John Hayden went on blast condemning her actions.
How can we trust these leaders to be responsive to citizens asking legitimate questions about their family members’ deaths and the professionalism of investigations?
Jamala Rogers and John Chasnoff are co-chairs of the Coalition Against Police Crimes & Repression.
