UNIVERSITY CITY, Mo.— Protesters broke windows of storefronts in this St. Louis-area suburb and threw objects at police Saturday as violence flared for a second night following the acquittal of a white former police officer in the fatal shooting of a black man.
The University City Police Department said 23 businesses and five police vehicles were damaged by people throwing rocks, bricks, water bottles filled with paint thinner or gasoline and balloons filled with red liquid. They said no civilians or police officers were seriously injured. A total of nine arrests were made, according to law enforcement officials.
The protests began Friday after a judge’s ruling clearing former St. Louis Metropolitan police officer Jason Stockley of first-degree murder in the 2011 shooting of 24-year-old Anthony Lamar Smith. Eleven police officers were injured and 33 people were arrested in Friday night’s protests.
The disturbance by a small group of protesters in the Delmar Loop area of University City followed a day of tense but mostly calm demonstrations Saturday afternoon. Following a peaceful march in the evening, a few dozens of protesters refused to leave despite being ordered to leave by police, who said the protest was unlawful. Police in riot gear and armored vehicles moved in, and demonstrators retreated to a nearby street, where some businesses were damaged.
Earlier Saturday, demonstrators marched through West County Mall chanting “Black lives matter!” and “No justice, no peace!”
After leaving West County, they moved to Chesterfield Mall, and then the Taste of St. Louis, carrying the same message of protest.
A spokesperson for the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department said in a statement that nine St. Louis officers, one Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper, and one St. Louis County officer were hurt Friday night. One of the city officers was hit with a brick. O’Toole said the injuries to St. Louis police officers include a possible broken jaw and a dislocated shoulder.
The band U2 canceled its Saturday night concert in St. Louis because the police department said it wouldn’t be able to provide its standard protection for the event, organizers said.
For weeks, activists had been threatening civil disobedience if Jason Stockley, a former St.Louis Metropolitan police officer, were acquitted of murder for killing Anthony Lamar Smith following a high-speed chase.
Stockley was charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action in May 2016, about 4 1/2 years after shooting and killing Smith on Dec. 11, 2011. Stockley opted for a bench trial – a trial without a jury – before veteran Circuit Judge Timothy Wilson.
