Thousands protest acquittal of cop in St. Louis

Reuters/Lawrence Bryant

Thousands of working people and youth have taken to the streets to protest since St. Louis District Court Judge Timothy Wilson acquitted former cop Jason Stockley Sept. 15. Stockley was charged with first-degree murder after killing 24-year-old Anthony Lamar Smith on Dec. 20, 2011. Prosecutors said that Stockley, who is Caucasian, shot Smith five times as he sat in his car after a 3-mile 80 mph high-speed chase, and then planted a gun in his car.

Stockley claims the chase followed a drug transaction. The dashcam video shows the cop saying, “We’re killing this [expletive], don’t you know?” just before he shot Smith, who was African-American.

Minutes after the verdict, protesters marched for hours downtown. That evening some 1,000 people marched to the home of St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson. On Sept 17, Anthony Lamar Smith’s mother, Annie Smith, above center, joined the protests, including a demonstration of 1,000 at police headquarters. Protesters chanted, “Stop killing us,” “No justice, no peace,” “Whose streets, our streets,” and held up “Black Lives Matter” signs. The following day a march was organized downtown to the Municipal Courts Building and students demonstrated at Kirkwood and University City high schools.

But at night, after the protests ended, some people began breaking windows and vandalizing property. This opened the door for the cops on Sept. 17, when they roughed up and arrested protesters, bystanders and journalists. As they moved in, the cops mockingly chanted, “Whose streets, our streets.”

A year ago, the U.S. Department of Justice, under former President Barack Obama, concluded there was insufficient evidence to pursue federal civil rights prosecution of Stockley, but withheld this information from the public until Stockley’s trial was underway.

Smith’s killing took place just a few miles from Ferguson, where thousands of working people took to the streets to protest the August 2014 cop killing of 18-year-old Michael Brown.

— JANET POST