Video from the doorbell camera of a private home shows an officer in an unmarked Florissant, Missouri police car driving into the yard and running over a fleeing suspect at speed. As the suspect screams in pain as he tries to limp away from the car, the officer tells him to “get on the fucking ground” as he tackles him.
The video was first sent in to the Instagram account for RealSTLMedia, and was later picked up by TMZ. Warning: the noise of the impact is graphic:
The local Florissant Police Department confirmed that the officer in the video was not wearing a body-camera at the time. The St. Louis County Prosecutor removed itself from the case due to a conflict of interest in its office, and there are now three separate investigations being conducted by the St. Charles County Prosecuting Attorney, St. Louis County police department, and the FBI.
Florissant Police Chief Timothy Fagan claimed he first saw the video on Saturday. The officer involved is reportedly a nine-year veteran. He was’t named but has been suspended, pending the result of the investigations. The 20-year old suspect who was run over was being pursued for previous charges. They were taken to the hospital and treated for an ankle injury after the arrest.
The incident took place around midnight on Tuesday of last week, June 2, during global protests started by the Black Lives Matter movement marching to bring an end to police brutality after the graphic video of the death of George Floyd, which showed officers pinning him down for over eight minutes as he cried out that he couldn’t breath. It was later determined by a second autopsy that Floyd died of mechanical asphyxiation. Four officers involved have been fired and charged for their involvement in the murder.
This new video is just the latest this week showing officers clearly abusing their power, beating peaceful protesters with batons, shooting pepper pellets members of the media, drive-by pepper-spraying protesters on the side of the road for no reason, and firing tear gas canisters into trapped crowds and sometimes directly at individual protesters, with multiple people losing an eye and suffering severe injury as a result.
A particularly alarming trend is the use of vehicles to attack crowds of protesters. Videos from the week have shown some motorists angry at the protesters for inconveniencing them attempting to run over people. More alarmingly, videos of police units around the country show officers driving vehicles at crowds to push them back, with one video even showing an NYPD officer opening his door while driving past a protester just to hit them.
Looking for ways to advocate for black lives? Check out this list of resources by our sister site Lifehacker for ways to get involved.
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