St. Louis police handle shootings by officers with little oversight
20.05.12
ST. LOUIS • Wearing a red coat was Randy Hill's
big mistake.
On Dec. 1, 2008, about 6 p.m., police alerted officers about a
man fatally shot at Ninth and Cole streets. The suspect was a black
man wearing a red coat and a white hat, fleeing on foot.
Done for the day at his factory job, Hill, 45, walked nearby,
toward his home on Tyler Street. Two Fourth District officers
spotted him at Ninth Street and Cass Avenue, huddled in his
Cardinals jacket against the cold.
Officers Beary Bowles and Brian Strehl drew their guns and
shouted orders. Hill raised his hands, then his right hand dropped.
Bowles, a rookie, and Strehl, a 19-year decorated veteran, fired
four times, wounding Hill in the knee and side. But Hill, it turned
out, wasn't their guy.
What followed was a deadly force review contained within the
walls of the department — as usual, with virtually no outside
scrutiny.
St. Louis officers fire their guns at a higher rate than those
in many other metropolitan forces, according to a Post-Dispatch
analysis.
Source: STLtoday.com
