Former Acting SLMPD Chief Files Discrimination Complaint

ST. LOUIS, MO — Former Acting St. Louis police chief Lawrence O'Toole has filed a discrimination complaint against the city, saying he lost out on the job because he is white, KMOV Channel 4 reports. O'Toole ran the department for almost a year after former police commissioner Sam Dotson retired in April 2017, but John Hayden Jr. took over in December of that year after a long, sometimes contentious, selection process.

Hayden, who is black, is a 30-year veteran of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, and rose through the ranks from patrolman to commander before being appointed commissioner. He has been generally popular so far during his tenure, with praise both from community activists and the police union.

O'Toole, however, has routinely drawn the ire of protesters, most notably for his response to citywide protests last year. He is currently a lieutenant colonel with the police department and serves as assistant chief of police.

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"The public's opposition to O'Toole was not based on his skin color, but rather the fact that he commanded SLMPD during its deadliest period in at least 18 years," activist and citizen journalist Heather De Mian wrote on Twitter.

While I have concerns about now-Chief Hayden's actions at protests, there has not yet been a fatal shooting by SLMPD yet under his command. Under O'Toole's command last year, there were more people fatally shot by SLMPD within the shortest time since the year 2000. pic.twitter.com/bqSlnJ0wIG
— Heather (@MissJupiter1957) July 18, 2018

St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson called O'Toole's complaint — the details of which have not been made public — "unfortunate."

Patch has reached out to O'Toole for comment. We'll update this story if we hear back.

Image via St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department