ST. LOUIS — (Scroll down for video) — On Monday, February 29, 2016, the department learned of a car stop via social media posts that alleged officers acted inappropriately and pointed guns at a child inside the car. There is no formal complaint relative to this allegation. Chief Dotson called for an internal investigation to determine if SLMPD officers were involved, to identify the officers and to determine what had occurred.
An internal investigation revealed that two SLMPD officers did conduct a car stop on the parking lot of Family Dollar, at 3411 S. Jefferson, at 5:06 p.m. on Sunday, February 28. The entire car stop was captured on in-car video camera and is drastically different than what was portrayed on social media. The video shows that the officers were courteous and professional throughout the entire encounter. The video is posted below.
A Facebook message posted at 11:16 p.m. on Sunday from a woman named Melissa Bennett sparked the protests. She wrote: “Tonight, the police pulled guns while my 2 year old nephew and 5 month old neice where in the car. The 2 year old reached for his Mother(my neice). The police yelled at him, told him to get back, and told him not to move. The guns were pulled out the entire time My family was harassed and followed….. Modern day terrorism. One of the passengers looked at the police. Soon they were pulled over. They were getting out of church. When we met soon after, the young adults were afraid to drive home…. Terrified. Tonight it hit my family. Tonight I will speak out. Tonight….Lord, tonight. I will not rest. I will keep going… Tonight…”
“As they should, the public expects transparency from their police department”, police said. “We, in turn, expect transparency from the public. Social media is a great tool, but it has its disadvantages. Often times, information is posted without being vetted. In this case, one tweet caused a wave of mistrust throughout our community. We must do better to ensure we have all the facts before acting on information posted on social media. Making false statements about interactions with police officers does nothing to build trust and foster better community relationships. When things are not portrayed as they occurred, it is a disservice to our entire community. The police department and the community must work together to make our City a safer place to live, work and visit!”
