ST. LOUIS, Mo. --A former city police officer was cleared Thursday of charges he struck a handcuffed teenage suspect after prosecutors were unable to enter into evidence a video they say shows an assault.
The acquittal on one count of third-degree assault capped months of legal wrangling in the case against former officer Rory Bruce.
Prosecutors had also tried, but failed, to get the teenager on the stand. First they couldn't find him, then when they did, he asserted his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce had already dismissed then reissued charges against Bruce when the same evidence issues came up in a prior case.
Meanwhile, the teenage suspect was never charged, even though police say he was twice arrested in possession of drugs and guns. The first time was during the February 2012 incident in question; the second time was earlier this month, which is how prosecutors finally located him.
Jeff Roorda, business manager for the St. Louis Police Officers Association, on Thursday sharply criticized Joyce's office.
"You've got a guy who has twice skated on serious charges all in the interest of prosecuting a police officer on a misdemeanor where the only evidence is video that exonerates him," Roorda said in a prepared statement. "This is more than a case of prosecutorial indiscretion; it's a case of prosecutorial vanity."
Joyce, in a prepared statement, said her office was only presented with the second case, once the teen was no longer a juvenile, and there was insufficient evidence to bring charges. She did not elaborate.
As for Bruce, Joyce said her office "respectfully disagrees" with Associate Circuit Court Judge Theresa Counts Burke's ruling.
"We stand by our decision to charge in this case," she said.
She said the video, filmed from a police cruiser, "speaks for itself." Police intend to release the footage on Friday, a spokeswoman for Joyce said.
Prosecutors allege it shows Bruce hitting the teen unprompted. Bruce's attorney, Joe Hogan, planned to argue it showed his client reacting in self-defense when the teen lunged at him, after earlier trying to turn a gun on Bruce's partner, Jacob Fowler.
But the video never made it into evidence because the law required prosecutors to authenticate it with someone who had personal knowledge of the events. Bruce refused to testify against himself, citing the same constitutional grounds as the teen.
That left Fowler, who claimed the same but was forced to testify after prosecutors granted him immunity from charges and obtained a last minute order from another judge.
When Fowler viewed the footage, he testified it differed from his recollection of events. Burke ruled he thus couldn't authenticate it. That left only the testimony of a few police employees, who couldn't say much because of hearsay rules.
The decision on the video brought the long, complicated case to an abrupt end. "Not guilty," announced Burke.
Bruce and Fowler, both probationary officers, were fired after the incident.
Copyright 2013 - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
