North St. Louis resident Prince Carter met St. Louis Police Officer Milton Green years ago when Carter ran a barbeque stand.
“He used to come and engage with people and interact with the young people,” Carter said. “I see him as a role model. We as a community are tired of all the crime, and this guy has been doing everything he can to fight it.”
On June 21, Green was shot in the arm by a white St. Louis police officer after he came to assist at a crime scene that unfolded right outside his front steps while off-duty.
Although he wasn’t close friends with Green, Carter wanted the injured officer to know that his community supports and cares about him. So on Saturday, July 1, Carter and community activist Bill Monroe set up a simple stand in an Aldi’s parking lot to sell snow cones and hot dogs to raise money for Green and his family. By mid-day, more than 200 people had come through, including the acting chief of police and several elected officials. They raised $2,400 in eight hours.
Some residents who passed through called Green “Mr. Clean Cut.” They said he was the type of officer who would call the parents of black teenagers when he pulled them over to let them know what was going on – much to the parents’ gratitude.
“I know all officers can’t do this all the time; however, it made me feel a sense of community policing that’s protecting & serving,” Barbara Whitley Campbell wrote in a Facebook post to Green. “My husband & I appreciate you!”
Carter said Green was much loved in the community.
“We have to let police know that when they are doing the right thing, we’ll rally behind them,” Carter said.
Normally people in the community wouldn’t blink at an incident like Green’s getting shot and just pass it off as “another dirty police” officer shooting a black man, Carter said. But the fact that it was a beloved officer who was shot made people particularly saddened and frustrated.
On June 21 at about 10:30 p.m., Green was relaxing with his family in his North St. Louis city home when he heard “commotion” nearby and went outside to scope it out with his department-issued weapon, according to the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department’s incident statement.
At that time, three black males, two of whom were 17, had crashed a stolen car on the 5900 block of Astra Avenue. The young men fled on foot, and two officers chased and fired shots at them. One of the young men was hit in the ankle.
When the black officer came out to assist, two officers ordered him to the ground and he complied. They soon recognized the 11-year veteran on the force and told him to stand up and walk toward them, according to the statement.
But then another officer, a 36-year-old white officer, arrived on the scene and “observed this,” the report stated. Somehow, the officer “feared for his safety,” and he shot the black cop in the arm, according to the statement.
The police department did not release the names of any of the officers involved. However, it did state that seven officers went on administrative leave after the incident, as per department policy. The Force Investigative Unit, which focuses on officer-involved shootings, responded, and an investigation is ongoing.
That night, Acting Police Chief Lawrence O’Toole – surrounded by the mayor and some top-ranking officers – told media at the scene that the off-duty officer was shot in the arm “during the exchange of gunfire” between the suspects and the officers.
At noon the next day, the department tweeted out the incident statement that revealed the fact that the white officer had shot the black officer.
O’Toole and Mayor Lyda Krewson were quick to make a public statement about the incident that didn’t reflect the truth, Carter said, but they haven’t been willing to speak publicly about their mistake since then.
“In my opinion, they are stalling for time,” Carter said.
Krewson and O’Toole have both talked about addressing racism in the city, but “why not racism in the police department?” Carter asked.
Monroe said that they also need to talk about the fact that “all black people are not a threat.” However, he said he was happy that the community came forward and showed their appreciation and support for the city’s officers at the fundraiser.
David Jackson, who attended the fundraiser, agreed that people in the community “are in full support of the police department,” despite there being “those bad few.” Green’s injury is unfortunate, he said.
“It makes you question,” Jackson said. “You have an officer come on the scene and he just starts shooting? If you are that afraid, then maybe you shouldn’t have a gun.”
