And the cop will not go to jail. This is what has sparked protests by thousands in St. Louis from September 15 through today.
Anthony Lamar Smith with his daughter
In 2011, St. Louis cop Jason Stockley fired 5-7 shots at Anthony Lamar Smith, killing him. Stockley claimed that Smith was selling drugs and chased him at high speed and shot him to defend himself. The story was briefly reported as another drug deal gone bad, and it was just incidental that the cop was white and the victim was black. [See 2011 story here].
But the case turned out to be a lot more than that. His mother, Annie Smith, said that “They wouldn’t let me kiss him or hug him goodbye.” Kirkwin Taylor reported that he and his 5-year-old son had been riding with Smith and were at a fast-food restaurant with him. Taylor was inside when the police approached. He disputed that Smith had drugs and a gun. “I wouldn’t have had my son in there if there was a gun.”
When Stockley first approached Smith’s car, he carried his own AK-47, an unauthorized weapon, as well as his police gun. Was it possible that Smith sped away because he was terrified of the cop and not because he was selling drugs?
Stockley received a 30 day suspension for carrying the AK-47 and resigned from the police force in 2013. He moved to Houston TX to take a lucrative management job. After a wrongful death suit brought on behalf of Smith’s young daughter resulted in $900,000 damages the City’s…