On the evening of September 9, Eldridge Cherry was waiting at the City of St. John City Hall, 8944 St. Charles Rock Rd., to plead not guilty to running a red light.
While he and some 50 people were waiting in line, he said, he saw a white police officer punching a defenseless African-American juvenile male (around 12-13 years of age) in the face.
“The officer didn’t have to do the young man like that,” said Cherry, a black man, age 47.
“He didn’t hit the officer or have a weapon out. It was police brutality.”
St. John’s Police Department was reached by phone on Tuesday and declined to comment on the incident.
Cherry said, “I shouted to the officer that this is police brutality and the juvenile needs an ambulance.”
Cherry said he called an ambulance for the juvenile.
Cherry said another white police officer he identified as Sgt R. Selby (DSN 99) approached him and told him a to hang up the phone or he would lock him up.
Cherry said Selby later ordered him to step away from the line.
Cherry said, “Selby pushed me into a cement wall while twisting my arm, and then he handcuffed me. He didn’t even read me my Miranda Rights, but handcuffed me to a bench and told me to mind my own business.”
Cherry said Selby tried, but failed, to find a code in the computer for a violation with which to charge him. He also said the department’s fingerprint machine wouldn’t work on him.
“God is good,” said Cherry.
Cherry said he witnessed Selby informing the officer who allegedly had been hitting the juvenile that Cherry had called 911 on him.
Cherry said, “This officer started threatening me, and I told this officer if I had seen someone hit him that way that I would have called 911 on his behalf.”
Cherry said he saw Selby call the 911 dispatcher and ask if they heard what he had said to Cherry and if the threat to lock him up had been recorded on tape.
Cherry said the officers issued him an arrest notification to appear in court on October 7 at 7 p.m.
He said the ambulance never came for the juvenile.
“St. John’s itself and its police are very racist towards African Americans,” Cherry said.
“I face this kind of mess all my life with the police harassing African Americans, and black people don’t say anything about it. But I will stand up and say something. The main thing is I told the truth of what happened. And it’s good to tell the truth.”
Though the St. John Police Department declined to comment on this incident, it does state a mission on its website.
“The Mission of the St. John Police Department is to provide quality police services to our citizens in a professional and timely manner,” the website states.
“The Department embraces the Community Oriented Policing and Problem Solving philosophy which stresses positive community relationships and involvement.”