A new CNN investigation into a serious anti-brutality case in downtown St. Louis offers new details on the incident in question, but raises new questions about possible police misconduct. The chain of events began with a wrong-way crash in which two St. Louis police officers and a pregnant woman were injured. The officer responsible for the crash crashed his squad car into a crowd of protesters, pushing several to the ground and taking away a protester’s camera. Police arrested some of the demonstrators and charged them with assaulting the officer. Nearly four years later, no charges have been filed.
Protests were peaceful until August 21, 2018, when a police officer shot dead Anthony Lamar Smith. The Ferguson Police Department later found the officer responsible for the shooting “reasonably believed” Smith was armed. The shooting remains under investigation.
On Wednesday, CNN released video footage of the events leading up to the fatal police shooting of Smith. CNN’s Nick Paton Walsh and Ed Lavandera delved into witnesses’ accounts and what could be missed in body camera footage. On Thursday, a local prosecutor summarized the evidence and announced that there would be no charges against the officer who shot Smith.
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