Police Officers Will Not Be Charged For March Shooting

ST. LOUIS, MO — Based on video evidence, three St. Louis police officers will not be charged for a March shooting that left 31-year-old John Blanchard injured but alive, the Office of the Circuit Attorney said in a memorandum last week. The officers shot Blanchard after they said he pointed a gun at them, but refused to testify in the case until they were cleared by prosecutors, citing their Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination.

St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner has previously raised concerns over officers refusing to testify, according to the Post-Dispatch, saying that it makes some cases impossible to prosecute. She has also asked for independent investigations into police shootings, alleging that the Force Investigation Unit currently tasked with such investigations has intentionally and repeatedly withheld evidence from prosecutors.

"Many people — especially people of color — feel the system is rigged against them," she told the Public Safety Committee in October. Independent investigations, she hoped, would restore their confidence in the criminal justice system.

It was that lack of confidence in the criminal process that sparked a wave of protests this past fall over the acquittal of former police officer Jason Stockley for murder in the 2011 shooting black motorist Anthony Lamar Smith.

But that is far from the only case under scrutiny. Shortly before Christmas, Missouri Rep. Bruce Franks Jr. and the family of Cary Ball called for a new investigation into Ball's 2013 shooting death. Police shot the 25-year-old man 21 times after he fled a traffic stop in April of that year. Officers said he pointed a stolen gun at them, but no video exists of the shooting, and some witnesses contradict the official story.

Across the United States, police are seldom charged for using lethal force and convictions are even rarer. Prosecutors depend on police testimony to earn convictions and are reluctant to jeopardize a good working relationship. Officers are often unwilling to testify against one of their own. And, in many cases, the officer and the victim are the only eyewitnesses to a shooting, meaning the only story to come out of many deadly encounters is the official one.

Photo: State Rep. Bruce Franks Jr. on the front lines of a protest following the announcement of the Stockley verdict in September. (Michael B. Thomas/News/Getty Images)