Lawrence M. O’Toole, interim chief of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, had surprising advice for people concerned about the expectation of protests in the St. Louis region with a verdict in the Jason Stockley murder trial expected as soon as tomorrow: Don’t forget to consider why people are protesting.
“People have been asking me, ‘Is it safe to go here or there?’ and I tell them to continue to live their lives, just be aware of the larger issues the protestors are trying to call attention to,” O’Toole said. “These issues have to be addressed.”
O’Toole spoke Thursday afternoon in an off-the-record meeting with regional news directors at police headquarters, but The American cleared a few quotes for publication before leaving the meeting.
Of course, most activists are prepared to protest what they would consider criminal injustice if Stockley is found not-guilty of the premeditated murder of Anthony Lamar Smith on December 20, 2011, when he was an active-duty St. Louis police officer. Then-St. Louis Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce charged Stockley with first-degree murder and armed criminal action on May 16, 2016. Stockley opted for a bench trial with Judge Timothy Wilson, who alone will decide his fate – and, many fear, the safety and smooth functioning of the region.
Judge Wilson heard closing arguments on August 9, then set a deadline to receive written arguments by August 18, and has not been heard from since. The clerk for the 22nd Circuit would only say that news media will be alerted via email when there is a verdict.
But O’Toole did not cite police accountability as the underlying message animating protestors when he advised the public to listen to the protestors, even if they were concerned or fearful.
“They are trying to shine the light on the injustices they see and feel,” O’Toole said, before listing signs of deep poverty and hopelessness in many St. Louis neighborhoods – even accurately citing the number of youth classified as homeless in the Saint Louis Public Schools (more than 5,400 in 2016).
“Whatever the verdict,” O’Toole said, “those problems will remain.”
During the meeting, O’Toole announced that St. Louis city police would start 12-hour shifts at 7 a.m. Friday morning. St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar, who also spoke to news directors at the meeting, said that county police would do the same. “We’re going to have the same footprint as the city,” Belmar said.
The 12-hour shifts starting on Friday certainly strengthen the suspicion many feel – and some have reported, based on anonymous sources – that Wilson will hand down a verdict on Friday. Many activists have said they are certain that the verdict will be not-guilty, given the typical outcome in past cases where police killed someone. Many legal observers have noted that first-degree murder – murder committed “with premeditation and deliberation” – is extremely difficult to prove beyond a reasonable doubt.
Further, the Civil Rights Division of President Obama’s Department of Justice declined to prosecute when then St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson sent them the Stockley case, Dotson told The American.
But O’Toole and Belmar both insisted they had no prior knowledge that a verdict was imminent or what that verdict would be. O’Toole said he has been in dialogue with Judge Michael K. Mullen, presiding judge of the 22nd Circuit, but not with Judge Wilson. Since Stockley had been a department employee, O’Toole said, it would be improper for him to contact the judge who has the case. O’Toole said he did feel comfortable asking Judge Mullen for a heads-up, but he had to be tactful.
“After 35 years in law enforcement, I’ve learned that you don’t tell a judge to do anything,” O’Toole said.
Police leadership was asked if they had prepared for counter-protestors using vehicles to assault and attempt to kill protestors, a growing trend at police accountability and anti-white-supremacist protests – with the most recent incident happening Wednesday night during a Convict Stockley protest in Kirkwood, when reportedly no one was injured.
Sergeant Shawn McGuire, spokesman for the St. Louis County Police Department, told The American that to protect protestors who are blocking the roadway, police need to get in the roadway with them – which protestors often claim to be an infringement of their 1st Amendment rights.
“But then if someone drives into a crowd or protestors, they ask, ‘Where were the police?’” McGuire said. “It’s a double-edged sword.”
O’Toole said that – despite all of the attention surrounding the Stockley verdict – his first priority remains fighting violent crime. And, surprisingly, he credited protestors with sharing his concern with the roots of violent crime in poverty and hopelessness – problems that await him long after Stockley’s fate is decided and any resulting protests in St. Louis subside.
“As long as we have these societal issues,” O’Toole said, “we’re going to have crime.”
