ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- A St. Louis police officer who was accused of punching a teenage suspect in the head while the teen was handcuffed was found not guilty in a bench trial Wednesday.
David Wilson was charged in April with third-degree assault, a misdemeanor, after the incident on the afternoon of Jan. 8, in the 1500 block of Tower Grove Avenue. He allegedly punched a 16-year-old in the head while the boy was handcuffed and sitting in the rear of a police car. The teen had been arrested on felony charges.
Wilson was found not guilty in a bench trial before Circuit Judge Michael Stelzer.
Wilson, who had been in the department for four years, had been placed on administrative duty. Wilson's attorney Jim Towey said his client still has an Internal Affairs investigation pending against him. and will likely remain on administrative duty until that is resolved
Towey said Wilson can be seen in a video punching the cruiser, not the handcuffed teen. The 16-year-old was driving a car that had been stolen from Illinois and a camera mounted in a police car recognized it as stolen.
When Wilson tried to curb the vehicle, the teen led the officer on a pursuit through the grass at Tower Grove Park on a Sunday afternoon. The four teens inside ran from officers and one was grabbing at his waist band, leading Wilson to draw his weapon. When Wilson caught up to another one of the teens, that teen grabbed Wilson's service weapon. Wilson fired one shot at him, but his gun jammed before he could fire again, Towey said.
Towey said his client intends to remain with the city Police Department.
"Sometimes you have to let the system do its work, and today it worked," he said.
Towey said the alleged victim couldn't identify Wilson in court and was never charged for his role in the incident after the allegations against Wilson surfaced.
"He is a real good policeman and he has no other blemishes and this was really tough on him," Towey said.
Sgt. David Bonenberger, also president if the St. Louis Police Officers Association, attended about two hours of Wilson's trial.
"This was an unnecessary expense and burden on the taxpayer to prosecute a case and the decision ends up being not guilty because there was no merit to the charges to begin with," he said.
After the verdict Wednesday, Susan Ryan, spokeswoman for Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce, issued a statement that said: "Based upon the videotape evidence, the police thought there was sufficient basis to bring the case to us. We believed the evidence supported charges. While we may not agree with the judge's findings, we respect his decision. This is how the system works."
Another officer, Rory Bruce, was also charged with third-degree assault during a separate incident announced at the same time as the one involving Wilson. Bruce was fired March 28, as was his partnert, Jacob Fowler. Both were probationary officers with less than a year on the force. Fowler was not criminally charged, but dismissed for violating department policy.
Bruce is charged with punching a different 16-year-old male suspect in the face while his hands were cuffed behind his back outside a police car on Feb. 20.
That incident was also captured on video and audio recordings in police vehicles, according to court documents. Bruce's case is pending.
Copyright 2012 - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
