St. Louis police officers who took part in a kettling and mass arrest of people at Washington Avenue and Tucker Boulevard in St. Louis remain in the area after the arrests on Sunday, Sept. 17, 2017. A group of police officers chanted “Whose Streets, our streets” twice as those who were arrested were loaded into vans to be taken to jail. There have been numerous complaints of mistreatment and abuse by the police as they took people into custody. Photo by David Carson, dcarson@post-dispatch.com
ST. LOUIS — A proposed agreement has been reached to end the lawsuit over St. Louis police actions taken during downtown demonstrations in 2017 after the acquittal of a former city officer for an earlier fatal shooting.
The consent judgment announced Wednesday would end the suit filed against the city by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of protesters shortly after the demonstrations, during which police used a controversial “kettling” technique to round up participants. The lawsuit criticized police use of chemical agents against protesters and the mass arrests.
The demonstrations stemmed from the acquittal of former Officer Jason Stockley, who had faced a murder charge in the 2011 fatal shooting of a drug suspect.
The agreement also spells out what police could and could not do during future nonviolent protests.
Most of the stipulations listed in the agreement resemble the 2017 injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Catherine Perry. It restricted police interference when people are using their constitutional right to engage in expressive activity, such as during protests.
The consent agreement would stipulate that clear warnings must be issued to protesters to disperse, sufficient time to disperse and not using chemical agents such as mace and shooting pepper pellets unless there is probable cause preceded by warnings from police.