“Roxanne,” Sting sings in the Police song of that name, “you don’t have to put on the red light. Those days are over.” The “red light,” in that song, was the prostitute’s signal that she was open for business.
The police in St. Louis are singing a different song about a red light in a video captured by a police cruiser’s dashboard camera on April 10, 2014. “It’s red right now,” St. Louis Police Officer Kelli Swinton says on the video, “so if you guys are worried about cameras, just wait.”
The red light, in this case, indicated a camera capturing video footage. Swinton’s colleagues ought to have been “worried about cameras,” since this camera was capturing them surrounding a suspect, Cortez Bufford, and giving him an old-school kickdown.
That is, until a cop puts out the red light and the video goes blank. After that, no one knows what happened to Bufford at the hands and feet of Officers Michael Binz, Nathaniel Burkemper, Nijauh J. Woodard, Jenkins Monroe, Jessica Rae Meyer, Amber Enochs and Swinton, the cops listed in the police report.
In fact, that gap in video evidence – meant to protect the cops giving Bufford the kickdown – also ruined the prosecutor’s case against him. Police claimed Bufford was illegally in possession of a concealed weapon when he resisted arrest, and a St. Louis Grand Jury indicted him for unlawful use of a weapon (a class D felony) and resisting a lawful stop (a class A misdemeanor) on June 9.
“The action of turning off the dash cam video diminished the evidentiary merits of the case,” Susan Ryan, a spokeswoman for Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce, told Robert Patrick of the Post-Dispatch, who broke the story with Fox 2 News. Patrick received the video through an open records request to City Counselor Winston Calvert, though the circuit attorney’s office actually discovered the incriminating video while reviewing the case.
Ryan also said that prosecutors decided the officers did not break the law. Really? Getting in a circle around a man on the ground and kicking him isn’t breaking the law? The cops on the scene claimed they were simply trying to get the gun from Bufford, though some of the kicks on the video could not possibly have been trying to achieve that.
What is it the protestors chant? “The whole damn system is guilty as hell”? Kind of looks that way in this case. And to make matters worse for advocates of police reform through diversity, Swinton – the officer who “put out the red light” – is black, as is at least one other cop who surrounded Bufford. This was a diverse kickdown
Joel Schwartz and Bevis Schock – Bevis was last seen in the EYE giving Paul McKee Jr. hell in the courts, paid by a mystery man the EYE suspects is named Rex – filed a civil suit for Bufford on January 22. So not only did Swinton cost the prosecutor a case against an alleged criminal, she will almost certainly cost taxpayers a pretty penny.
“Police Chief Sam Dotson declined to comment on the specifics of the case,” the Post reported. Can’t blame him. This case is a big fat loser for Sam and the boys and girls (white and black) in blue.
Brian Millikan, a police union lawyer, told the Post that the video shows “perfect use” of police tactics. That’s what he said.
As for the officer who “put out the red light,” a police spokeswoman told Fox 2 that Swinton “has been recommended” for discipline, but is appealing; her lawyer declined to comment.
The Post noted that Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster – who wants to be governor – said that police car videos should be a closed record in his new recommendations for police reform. Bad idea, wannabe guvna!
‘Rainford angrily’
Bufford’s attorneys claim that Slay’s then-chief of staff Jeff Rainford asked them to delay release of the tape in August, when they received it. They presumed the delay was requested to avoid enflaming the ongoing protests in Ferguson.
“But Rainford angrily denied in a call several days ago to Fox 2 that the request had anything to do with Ferguson,” the Post reported.
“Rainford angrily”: the EYE will not miss seeing those two words paired together in press reports, now that the man of constant ire has left public service.
Minority interests
More diversity news for the city police: The February 2015 edition of The Gendarme, published by the St. Louis Police Officers Association, reports that the police union is recruiting members to serve on a “Minority Interest Committee.” Good luck with that one (sincerely). The EYE also noticed that this edition of the police union newsletter has two local black columnists, Andre Smith and Clarence Hines. That’s more local black writers than the Post-Dispatch publishes on any given day.
Payback for bill kill?
Browsing The Gendarme, the EYE sees that the coppers endorsed two of the three candidates for alderman who sponsored the civilian oversight bill, yet helped to keep it from passing this session via a procedural vote: Christine Ingrassia in Ward 6 and Lyda Krewson in Ward 28. The third aldermanic musketeer who killed the bill, Shane Cohn, represents an odd-numbered ward (25) and is not on the March 3 ballot. The coppers also endorsed the EYE’s least favorite black alderman ever, Jeffrey Boyd of Ward 22.
Guns vs. hoses
As St. Louis firefighter Wayne Johnson pointed out on Twitter, the coppers and the firefighters can’t agree on their aldermen this time around. Where the police union wants Jack Coatar in Ward 7, Firefighters Local 73 likes Chelsea Merta. Whereas the guns want Steve Conway in Ward 8, the hoses want Kevin McKinney (an African American running against Conway, a longtime ally of Mayor Francis Slay). The coppers want Beth Braznell in Ward 15 but the fire boys want Megan Ellyia Green. The cops want Craig Schmid in Ward 20, but the firefighters like Cara Spencer. It’s Tom Bauer for the guns in Ward 24, but Scott Ogilvie for the hoses. Of all their announced endorsements – Local 73 is still sitting out most races – they only agree on Larry Arnowitz in Ward 12.
Arson indictment, looting charge
Then-Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson was not indicted for shooting Michael Brown Jr. six times, including twice in the head, and killing him – as you may have heard – but indictments and criminal charges are starting to appear for offenses that went down in Ferguson after the community erupted.
On February 11, a federal grand jury indicted a 26-year-old St. Louis County man on “one felony count of attempt to damage and destroy by means of fire and/or explosive materials.” The feds say he tried to burn down the Ferguson Supermarket, Inc. on November 24, the night St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert P. McCulloch announced there would be no charges against Wilson.
If convicted – and an indictment is only an allegation – this charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and/or fines up to $250,000.
U.S. Attorney Richard Callahan said he expects additional Ferguson arson indictments “at both the state and federal level.” Bet on that.
This week McCulloch also charged a Ferguson resident with receiving stolen property (a Class C felony) for having $800 worth of “hair weaves and other products” that were reportedly stolen from a beauty supply shop on West Florissant Avenue, which sounds to the EYE like Ferguson loot. Another 34-year-old Ferguson local was charged with two counts of looting on Nov 24: he allegedly was found locked inside the Dellwood Market bathroom while it was being looted and on tape at the Phillips 66.
