This week two St. Louis Metropolitan Police Officers, Stephen Ogunjobi and Louis Wilson, go to jury trial in Division 6 in a civil case for damages for assault and excessive use of force (battery) brought by Kristine Hendrix, a 38 year old African-American woman and elected University City School Board member, who was peacefully protesting police misconduct back in May, 2015, outside Busch Stadium when she was arrested and repeatedly tased.
Fortunately for Ms. Hendrix, the arrest was caught on video.
Ms. Hendrix was subsequently charged in municipal court with resisting arrest. After a bench trial she was acquitted. At a trial de novo in Associate Circuit Court, she was again acquitted. Judge Colbert-Botchway wrote in her opinion that “[t]he evidence presented in this case does not establish that Ms. Hendrix was ever given an opportunity to comply before she was tased repeatedly and then handcuffed.”
Even more concerning is Judge Colbert-Botchway’s description of the evidence presented at the trial:
“It is clear from the video and from Officer Wilson’s testimony that he and Officer Ogunjobi approached Ms. Hendrix from behind. . . . [T]he ‘pop’ sound of Officer Ogunjobi’s taser clearly can be heard as he applies it to Ms. Hendrix for the first time. Within a couple of seconds of that Ms. Hendrix can be heard saying “Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God. Why did you do that? I wasn’t doing anything?” An officer can be heard saying “Put your hands behind your back,” but before he even finishes the sentence the sound of Officer Ogunjobi administering another cycle of tasing to Ms. Hendrix can be heard, and she screams. In response to the officer’s command, she then can be heard saying five times in succession “I can’t it hurts! I can’t it hurts!” then “It hurts so bad, please, please stop.” She repeats this several more times, then Officer Ogunjobi tases her a third time. Again, Ms. Hendrix screams, then says, “Oh my God, why are you doing this, I’m on the ground.””
You can see the video for yourself here:
I don’t expect this to end well for the officers.