Two St. Louis city police officers are under investigation for intimidating the grieving family of Cary Ball Jr., who was shot by police 25 times and killed on April 24 just north of downtown.
On June 12 around 2:50 p.m., The St. Louis American was videotaping an interview with Ball’s family in the Columbus Square neighborhood where he was killed. Ball’s mother, Toni Taylor, had just spoken on camera about her sorrow and confusion.
Moments later, a police car drove by the family, turned on its sirens and then yelled, “Hi. mom!” to Ball’s mother. Then the officers laughed.
The American videotaped the interaction and posted the video of the officers’ drive by on its YouTube channel (youtube.com/stlamericanvideo).
Taylor felt police were trying to harass and intimidate the family. Police continuously drive by whenever the family visits the location, she said. On June 17, Taylor called Internal Affairs to file a complaint against the officers, and a couple of days later she talked on the phone with Chief Sam Dotson, who had seen the video.
“I told her I was not happy about it, and I was going to give it to Internal Affairs to start an investigation,” Dotson said.
Taylor said Dotson asked her if the police officers had gotten out of the car to speak with her. She said no, they never had. According to Taylor, Dotson told her that the police officers said they had gotten out of the car and spoke with the family just before they passed by in the car.
The American was with the family during their entire visit, and the officers never spoke to the family. However they did pass by several times. In fact, minutes after they put their sirens on, they passed by again, waved out the car window and laughed.
“They tried to justify themselves by saying they got out of the car,” Taylor said. “They lied.”
Dotson did not confirm that he told Taylor the officers’ version of events.
“I want to be fair,” he said. “I want to make sure that I know the full story – what happened in the time before video started and after, so everyone has due process.”
Dotson said he walked down to the Internal Affairs office to show investigators the video. The officers in the video are not the same officers who shot Ball. Dotson said the investigation of the drive-by officers should take a couple of weeks.
Ball’s family files suit
On Tuesday, Ball’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, the individual officers involved in the shooting and the Board of Police Commissioners. They have retained attorneys Freeman Bosley Jr. and Daniel Brown.
The family filed seeking damages in excess of $25,000, but Bosley said he expects a jury trial and will ask the jury for a much larger sum.
In the four-count lawsuit, the family alleges that officers initiated a high-speed car chase that was in violation of the department’s vehicle pursuit policy. That policy states that police only initiate a car chase when they suspect the person has committed a felony. Police used excessive force in shooting Ball over 20 times, the lawsuit claims. The officers “unreasonably seized” Ball in violation of the Fourth Amendment and deprived him of his “right to life” under the Missouri Constitution, the family claims.
“Excessive force on any level is unacceptable,” Bosley said. “This chase should never have started in the first place, and Mr. Ball should certainly not be dead today. This has to stop.”
On April 24, Ball was driving home from his catering job at a downtown banquet hall, when a police car turned on its lights behind him near Washington Avenue and 18th Street. Rather than pull over, Ball led St. Louis police on a high-speed chase through the downtown area.
He crashed his car on the 1000 block of North 9th Street, grabbed his automatic handgun and started running east on Carr Street. He was shot and killed on Carr Street between 8th and 9th streets.
Several witnesses said that Cary had thrown down his gun and surrendered before police shot him.
Dotson said the department has not released a police report on the incident because Ball’s case is under investigation, and it could take months before it is completed.
On the verge of tears several times, Taylor spoke at the press conference Tuesday on the Circuit Courthouse steps. She was surrounded by family, including Ball’s father, Cary Ball Sr., and his 4-year-old daughter Chanell Williams.
“I want justice for my son, and I feel it would be served better in the court of law,” Taylor said. “I don’t understand how anyone can get shot 25 times. No one needs to shoot a human being or an animal that many times.”
Taylor said she didn’t understand why the two police officers who shot her son were released back to work.
“They say it’s an ongoing investigation, but they are back at work,” she said. “Someone has already made a conclusion, it seems like to me.”
