UPDATE: This afternoon (Sept. 23,) the St. Louis city jury acquitted Keyon Bennett on all four felony charges in this case.
Original story: A young African-American man said in a St. Louis city court trial today that St. Louis Metropolitan Police Officer James Zwilling fired a shot at him and his two friends while they had their backs turned and were running away from police on June 11, 2014 – a claim that could cost the officer his job or initiate criminal charges if proved true.
Keyon Bennett, 20, pled not guilty to four all felony charges – including assaulting an officer, unlawful use of a weapon, armed criminal activity and resisting arrest – in the case that began today in Circuit Judge Robert H. Dierker Jr.’s courtroom. Zwilling testified that Bennett had a gun and pointed it at him before he fired the shot. On that day, Zwilling’s partner was Jason Flanery, the officer who shot and killed VonDerrit Myers Jr., 18, in the Shaw neighborhood a few months later on Oct. 8, 2014. Both officers are white.
Attorneys will give their final statements to the jury tomorrow (Wednesday, Sept. 23.)
Bennett testified that he and his two friends were driving in a Cadillac with tinted windows on North Euclid Avenue at around 4 p.m. on June 11. At a stop sign, they passed a police vehicle, which flipped around and began tailing them. Zwilling said they began following the car because it “rolled through” the stop sign. He said he and Flanery were on patrol in the Greater Ville neighborhood to conduct “self-initiated activity” in attempts to combat crime in that neighborhood.
Bennett said his friend Anthony Tobias was driving the Cadillac, and he was sitting in the passenger seat. Brian Davis was riding in the back seat, he said. Tobias testified that he took a quick right turn onto Cote Brillante Avenue and sped away from the cop car because they had two guns in the car. One gun was with Davis in the back seat, he said, and one was wedged into the driver’s seat and the center console. Davis and Bennett also said the two guns were in those positions.
Tobias said he only drove one block before he crashed on the corner of Marcus Avenue and Cote Brillante. All three said they got out of the car and started running but left the guns in the car.
Bennett said they were all running across a vacant lot, and Zwilling was chasing them on foot. All three heard Zwilling fire his weapon. Tobias said he was able to escape the scene, but Davis and Bennett were arrested. Neither Davis nor Tobias said they saw Bennett take a gun when they ran.
Zwilling’s account of the chase differs significantly. He said only two people were in the car, and Bennett was driving the Cadillac. Davis got out of the passenger side, he said, and he saw Davis toss his gun onto the passenger seat. Bennett ran in the field, and at one point he turned around and pointed a gun at him. Fearing for his safety, Zwilling fired his weapon, he said. Bennett dropped his gun in the field before he started running again, Zwilling said.
Prosecuting attorney Mobayonle Omolara Osundare showed photos taken by an evidence technician showing one gun on the seat of the car and the other in the field. The men did not have permits to carry the guns, Zwilling said. Osundare told the St. Louis American that there were no fingerprints taken from the guns found.
Zwilling’s supervising officer testified that only one bullet was missing from Zwilling’s weapon when he arrived. However, the evidence technician testified that he could not find the shell casing from Zwilling’s gunshot. The shell casing would confirm where Zwilling was standing when he fired his gun.
Bennett’s defense attorney Erika Wurst pointed to the evidence photo of the car where the gun was pictured on the passenger seat. She said it showed that “lots of stuff” on the seats. She questioned Zwilling if the officers had touched anything in the car, and he said, “No.” If that was the case, Wurst said the men would have had to been sitting on piles of things. However, Bennett said that those things were not the seats when they got out of the car.
In Wurst’s cross examination of Zwilling, she said, “There are specific protocols for when you can use a fire arm… And if anyone found out that you shot your fire arm at someone when you weren’t in fear of your life or someone else’s, there could be some serious consequences.”
Zwilling said, “Yes.”
“You could lose your job,” she said. “You could be demoted. You could be investigated by internal affairs. You could possibly be criminally charged for that.”
He said, “Right.”
The court case will resume tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. in Division 18 at the Carnahan Courthouse.
Follow this reporter on Twitter @rebeccarivas.