MICHELLE SPROAT, J.T. BUCHHEIT & ASHLEY HIGGINBOTHAM
This is a breaking news story. Check in for updates.
UPDATE 11:36 a.m.
Scott Queen, the executive director of marketing & communications, sent an email to students and faculty at 11:17 a.m. saying that Lindenwood University’s “senior leadership is aware of the verdict in the Jason Stockley case. Out of an abundance of caution, our Old Post Office location downtown will be closed until Monday. We will continue to monitor the situation closely.”
UPDATE 11:28 a.m.
Protesters are marching on Olive Street toward 14th Street while chanting “Got my hands on my head; please don’t shoot me dead.”
Video by Ashley Higginbotham
Former St. Louis police officer Jason Stockley was found not guilty in a 2011 murder while he was on duty.
The verdict was announced on Sept. 15. St. Louis Circuit Judge Timothy Wilson deemed Stockley not guilty of first-degree murder and armed criminal action.
Stockley shot and killed Anthony Lamar Smith, 24, following a 2011 car chase. On Dec. 20, 2011, Stockley engaged in a high-speed chase with Smith after Smith rammed into the policeman’s cruiser. After the chase, Stockley got out of his vehicle and shot Smith five times. He was charged on May 17, 2016.
Lindenlink reporter Ashley Higginbotham was on the scene where protesters are grouping.
“There [aren’t] too many people here,” she said. “I was heading to Poelker Park. There were maybe 40 of them. About 95 percent were part of Black Lives Matter. There were chanting ‘No justice, no peace, off the sidewalks, into the streets.’ The streets to the courthouse are blocked off. There’s lots of white people there too. They’re walking in a big circle. There’s a bunch of cops on the side of the street.”
[pdf-embedder url=”https://lindenlink.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/STOCKLEY_VERDICT.pdf”]
