St. Louis police have handled protests nearly every day for the last month since a former officer was acquitted for murder in the death of a black man, and now they could be getting a big pay raise.
The St. Louis City Council moved to approve a $19 million increase in pay for the St. Louis Police Department (STLPD) in a 6-0 preliminary vote Tuesday night, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. The council is expected to give final approval to the pay hike in two weeks. The $19 million would be taken out of $46 million in expected revenue from a tax hike that voters approved this spring. Police plan to spend the rest of the $46 million on equipment and training more officers.
“They deserve a raise,” said Elizabeth Snyder, the widow of a police officer who was fatally shot last year. “Every time they put on that uniform, they are taking a risk.”
The STLPD is facing a series of lawsuits over its handling of recent protests against the acquittal of former-officer Jason Stockley in the shooting death of Anthony Lamar Smith. An ACLU lawsuit claims several instances of misconduct on the night of Sept. 17 when police made more than 120 arrests.
A second party, a married couple that was in the city to document the protests, alleged police brutality the same night.
Drew and Jennifer Burbridge’s lawsuit claims that police never issued a dispersal order and would not let them leave the protest, even after explaining they were not actual participants. Police never charged the couple with a crime, despite being arrested.
“I turned my camera off and asked if there was anywhere I could go, but I was denied the right to leave. I didn’t want to be a part of this,” Burbridge said. “The only thing I cared about then was putting my arms around my wife. I just, I just kept saying: ‘It’s going to be OK.'”
Burbridge complied with police orders to get on the ground, the suit claims, before two officers approached and dragged him away, allegedly throwing him face first onto the ground. The lawsuit describes police restraining Burbridge with zip-ties while three officers kicked him in the back and hit him with batons, even after he was fully restrained. During the beating, Burbridge claims, one officer asked him, “Do you want to take my picture now, (expletive)?”
The lawsuit also claims police carried Burbridge to a van to be transported to jail. One officer allegedly told her, “Did you like that? Come back tomorrow and we can do this again.”
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