Two officers from a St. Louis suburb have been accused in the kidnapping of a man who was driven to a secluded area and beaten until his jaw was broken, according to The Associated Press. One officer is accused of turning off their body camera right before the incident.
July 4, a man was taken into custody as a Walgreens in Northwoods, just a few towns below Ferguson. It’s unclear what he was arrested for but authorities say Officer Samuel Davis handcuffed him, put him in the back of his patrol car and never alerted dispatch that there was a man in custody. Davis then allegedly turned off his body camera and drove to a remote area of Kinloch where he pepper sprayed the man, beat him with a baton and threatened him not to come back to the City of Northwoods.
The man was found by a witness who called 911 for help. The witness, who identified the man as “Charles,” made a Facebook post about the incident explaining the upsetting condition in which she found him.
“I called 911 at least 8 [times] before I got an answer. I was headed to the fire station because he stopped moving and responding. A male County officer showed up and was patient, then a female who was even more patient. They asked him what happened and he was conscious enough to tell them that a [white] Northwoods cop brought him there, broke his jaw and his ribs and left him there. He said then the lady came and asked if I was ok. He was almost choking on his own blood,” read the post.
Now, there’s another officer who may have been involved in the incident.
Read more from AP News:
St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell on Wednesday announced that his office charged Northwoods, Missouri, Police Officer Michael Hill, 51, with second-degree kidnapping. Hill is jailed on $100,000 cash-only bond and doesn’t yet have a listed attorney.
The probable cause statement in Hill’s arrest said he was Davis’ supervising officer and was with Davis when the man was taken into custody at a Walgreens store. The statement said Hill told a store employee “what would happen to the victim.”
Like Davis, Hill never activated his body camera, never informed the dispatcher that a suspect was in custody, and didn’t write a report, the probable cause statement said.
Ain’t this some sundown town type of stuff… What happened to this man is parallel to every instance in Jim Crow America when a Black man was snatched up by an angry white mob and beaten bloodied with a “Don’t come back here, boy,” warning. This time, the “mob” accused are appointed and paid to “protect and serve” the community.
St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell said in a statement that this incident puts a “black eye” on all the police officers who are trying to do a good job.
“We intend to hold anyone who engages in such terrible and reckless behavior accountable for their actions, regardless of their position or title,” he said via St. Louis Dispatch.