After St Louis police officer Jason Stockley, killed an unarmed black man named Anthony Lamar Smith with an unauthorized AK-47, planted a pistol on his body, and was then acquitted on murder charges in 2017, St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department Officer Dustin Boone sent several texts in which he relished the prospect of beating up the protesters he anticipated following the verdict: phrases like "It's still a blast beating people" and It's gonna get IGNORANT tonight!!" and "It's gonna be a lot of fun beating the hell out of these s---heads once the sun goes down and nobody can tell us apart!!!!"
These weren't idle musings: Boone and two fellow officers Randy Hays (who later texted "going rogue does feel good"), and Christopher Myers grabbed a black protester that night, threw him to the ground, and kicked and clubbed him, while the protester peacefully complied with their barked orders.
That black man was actually a cop, with 22 years on the force. Following the beating, he was hospitalized, couldn't eat, and ultimately lost 20 pounds; he's since had surgery for his injuries and remains too disabled to return to work.
All three officers (as well as another cop, Bailey Colletta) have been indicted by a Grand Jury. The indictment alleges that the officers destroyed evidence and lied to investigators. The local police union says that we shouldn't rush to justice on these three white cops who beat up a black cop, because that would be convicting them before "their day in court."
Read the restIn fact, texts from Boone, Hays and Myers suggest those officers were explicitly looking forward to violently attacking protesters.
