St. Ann police release a statement after a video was posted online showing an officer smashing a car window and yanking the passenger out.
The Missouri police department claims one of the passengers refused to put their hands up and therefore the officers had to break the window, but the video shows otherwise.
Yesterday, Lisa Jones Watson uploaded a video to Facebook of a St. Ann detective bashing a passengers window with his elbow to get the passenger out.
The video starts out with Watson driving up to the scene of a car next to a median railing where the passenger has his hands up inside the car.
The uniformed officer attempts to open the passenger door but is stopped by the detective in the maroon-colored shirt. The detective proceeds to smash the window until it breaks.
The detective then grabs the passenger by the wrist and pulls him through the window over the shattered glass. The passenger lands on his back with his hands still up in the air.
The officers motion for the passenger to roll over to be cuffed.
“That’s abuse! That’s abuse! I got it on tape,” yelled the man recording.
The passenger complies with the officers demands and rolls over to get handcuffed.
At this point, in the background, the enraged detective is seen trying to get the passenger out the back seat, who also has his hands up.
It took St. Ann police three hours to release a statement online telling their side of the story.
According to the statement:
“Once the vehicle came to a stop, one of the passengers of the car refused to put his hands up, unlock the door, or open the window. Because it was a dangerous situation, with numerous officers involved and people driving by, our officers had to protect themselves and the public by ensuring that no weapons were going to be used. The passenger’s refusal to cooperate caused a St. Ann detective to break the window. The detective then took him out through the window, handcuffed and taken into custody.”
The video above shows otherwise.
Police attempted to pull over the driver of the car in St. Peters for traffic violations and a warrant connected to the license plate. The driver decided to not pull over, which ensued a multi jurisdiction police pursuit, according to KMOV.
Chief Aaron Jiminez said that the officers found drugs and crack pipes in the car.
This is not the first time St. Ann police have been reckless in their pursuits.
Records show that over the last two years, there has been about one St. Ann police chase a week, with them ending in a crash about every two weeks.
Chief Jiminez likes to take pride in how his officers handle pursuits, stating that chases send a message to law breaking that they need to stay out of St. Ann.
“Make no mistake, St. Ann will chase you until the wheels fall off,” … “I’ve said it over and over, and I stand by that,” according to St. Louis Post Dispatch.
Also, according to St. Louis Post Dispatch:
“Since 2009, two people have died and least 42 have been injured in St. Ann pursuit crashes, according to an analysis of reporting in the Post-Dispatch and other media. Those injured include 11 drivers fleeing police and eight passengers in the fleeing vehicles, but also 17 innocent bystanders and six St. Ann police officers.”
The department has reviewed the video and claims that it does not show abuse.
