Four St. Louis Police Officers Indicted for Civil Rights Violations, Obstruction of Justice, Missouri 2024

Four St. Louis Police Officers Indicted for Civil Rights Violations, Obstruction of Justice

A federal grand jury in St. Louis has indicted four St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department (SLMPD) Police Officers for their conduct in connection with the arrest and assault of a fellow SLMPD police officer who was working undercover in downtown St. Louis during last year’s protests following the acquittal of a former SLMPD officer of a first-degree murder charge brought by the State of Missouri relating to the shooting death of a civilian.

The indictment charges Officers Dustin Boone, 35, Bailey Colletta, 25, Randy Hays, 31, and Christopher Myers, 27, with various felony charges, including deprivation of constitutional rights, conspiracy to obstruct justice, destruction of evidence, and obstruction of justice.

The incident occurred in the days and weeks following the acquittal on Sept. 15, 2017. The four defendants were assigned to the Civil Disobedience Team (CDT), a protest-response unit, and were working in their capacity as SLMPD officers during the protests.

According to the indictment, the defendants used unreasonable force on the victim, a 22-year veteran SLMPD officer, which resulted in bodily injury and included the use of a dangerous weapon: shod feet and a riot baton.

The indictment also charges the defendants with conspiracy to obstruct justice for conspiring and agreeing to engage in misleading conduct toward witnesses to prevent information about their criminal conduct from reaching federal authorities.

The defendants were charged with deprivation of constitutional rights, conspiracy to obstruct justice, destruction of evidence, and obstruction of justice. Dustin Boone, Bailey Colletta, Randy Hays, and Christopher Myers remain at large, with no current status or sentence reported. The investigation is ongoing, and the public is encouraged to contact the FBI if they have any information or are a witness in this case.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/four-st-louis-police-officers-indicted-civil-rights-violations-and-obstruction-justice