County Police Lieutenant Fired Following Racial Profiling Investigation

A St. Louis County police lieutenant has been fired following a six-month internal investigation into racial profiling near a South County shopping center and Walmart, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.

Last year the department received an anonymous letter from one of its officers alleging that Lt. Patrick Hayes was ordering officers under his command in the South County Precinct to target blacks for arrest at South County Center and Walmart, according to the daily newspaper. Officers did not follow his command, though police told the Post-Dispatch that an investigation revealed Hayes did use "inappropriate racial references."

The Missouri NAACP sought a federal investigation around the allegations in February.

Read the full Post-Dispatch report to find out how Hayes and his attorney responded to the internal affairs investigation.