A federal grand jury indicted four St. Louis police officers on Thursday in the assault of a Black 22-year police veteran working undercover.
Officers Dustin Boone, 35, Randy Hays, 31, and Christopher Myers, 27, are facing felony charges for the attack of Luther Hall. Bailey Colleta, 25, was also charged for assisting with the cover-up.
On September 17, 2017, the three men were a part of a “civil disobedience team” sent to monitor protests against the Jason Stockley verdict. Stockley was a police officer found not guilty of first-degree murder following the 2011 shooting death of Black driver Anthony Lamar Smith. The 24-year-old was killed during a high-speed chase that ended with him being shot five times by the officer using his AK-47. A recording revealed that he chased Smith with the intent to kill him.
During the protests, the officers threw Hall to the ground after assuming he was a protestor. They then began kicking and beating him with their riot batons although he posed no physical threat.
On that same day, the officers learned the man they assaulted was an undercover police officer. According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Hall's injuries included a two-centimeter hole above his lip along with tailbone and back injuries. Boone, Myers and Hayes attempted to convince Hall against legal action and tried to stage a cover-up.
According to BuzzFeed, text messages among the three officers revealed their plans to beat protesters.
“Let’s whoop some a**,” Myers wrote.
“It’s gonna be a lot of fun beating the hell out of these s**theads once the sun goes down and nobody can tell us apart!!!!” Boone responded. “We really need these f**kers to start acting up so we can have some fun,” he continued in a message the next day.
Hays warned his fellow officers against using violence but also stated: “going rogue does feel good.”
He then told the team to make sure a white witness was around.
“Remember were [sic] are in south city,” he texted. “They support us, but also cameras. So make sure you have an old white dude as a witness.”
Myers is facing charges for destruction of evidence after destroying the undercover officer’s cellphone. The fourth officer involved, Colleta, who was dating Hays at the time, was charged with aiding in the cover-up by lying to the grand jury and attempting to mislead FBI investigators.
The Department of Justice released a statement outlining the decision.
"The indictment charges Officers Dustin Boone, 35, Bailey Colletta, 25, Randy Hays, 31, and Christopher Myers, 27, with various felony charges, including deprivation of constitutional rights, conspiracy to obstruct justice, destruction of evidence, and obstruction of justice," the statement read in part.
The Associated Press reported that all four officers are currently suspended without pay.
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