St. Louis Police Hit With Half Dozen More Stockley Protest Suits

ST. LOUIS, MO — Police in St. Louis are facing six new lawsuits for alleged misconduct during the arrests of activists and bystanders during last year's protests following the acquittal of white police officer Jason Stockley for murder in the shooting death of black motorist Anthony Lamar Smith.

The Rev. Darryl Gray alleges police threw him to the ground, breaking his glasses as they arrested him, the Post-Dispatch reports. Another protester, Calvin Kennedy, says police tased him without warning and without issuing any commands. Others say they were pepper sprayed indiscriminately, some for questioning police treatment of Gray and Kennedy.

One of those bystanders who was pepper sprayed was photographer and livestreamer Heather de Mian. De Mian uses a wheelchair, and — the suit claims — nearly a year later it still smells like pepper spray.

More than a dozen other suits have also been filed against police in relation to their handling of the protests. In September, ArchCity Defenders, a legal advocacy group based in St. Louis, filed suit on behalf of 12 individuals on the one-year anniversary of the protests. The allegations presented in multiple lawsuits include arbitrary arrests, indiscriminate use of chemical irritants, and a controversial tactic known as "kettling," where protesters are asked to disperse then prevented from doing so and arrested en masse.

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One of the people named in the suits is Air Force Lt. Alex Nelson. He and his wife were walking near their apartment when police arrested them last year. Nelson says he was kicked, sprayed with chemical irritants, and mocked by police despite complying with their orders.

Another, Post-Dispatch reporter Mike Faulk, who has since left the paper, said he was tackled and pepper sprayed despite wearing a prominent press badge.

"I suffer from paranoid, traumatic thoughts, and I don't feel safe around St. Louis police," he told the Riverfront Times in June.

The plaintiffs also include a photographer who says police destroyed more than $6,000 worth of his equipment, another Air Force officer who says he was beaten and held in an overcrowded cell, and others.

"Many of our clients are still suffering the effects of what happened to them," attorney Javad Khazaeli told the St. Louis American. "Everybody who watches the video should realize that these people were doing absolutely nothing wrong. And if the police were allowed to kettle, pepper-spray and beat compliant citizens who have their hands up and are sitting on the ground, then anybody can be at risk."

Just last week, Democratic Alderwoman Megan Ellyia Green filed suit against police alleging the use of tear gas against her and others without provocation. Green said she suffered respiratory problems for months afterward and remains fearful of police.

Green was among more than 100 people who took refuge in a synagogue to avoid the tear gas, the Associated Press reports. She stayed in the synagogue for more than an hour as police pounded on the door, according to the suit.

"The symbolism of citizens seeking refuge in a synagogue while out of control government actors pursued them was not lost on Ms. Green," her lawyers told the Associated Press.

The American Civil Liberties Union has also filed suit against St. Louis police. As part of that suit, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction in November that police are forbidden from using chemicals like mace or pepper spray to shut down non-violent protests or punish protesters, and they must immediately take steps to protect the constitutional rights of protesters, observers and bystanders.

That case is scheduled to go to trial next October, two years after the arrests. The judge has said the ACLU's case is likely to succeed on the merits.

The Associated Press contributed to this reporting.

Photo: Demonstrators protest the Stockley verdict in September, 2017. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)