St. Louis-area cop indicted for shooting shoplifting suspect

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

St. Louis-area cop indicted for shooting shoplifting suspect
Jim Salter, Associated Press Updated 6:49 pm CDT, Wednesday, May 1, 2019



This undated photo provided by the St. Louis County Police Department shows Ladue, Mo., Police Officer Julia Crews, 37, who was charged Wednesday, May 1, 2019, with second-degree assault. Authorities say Crews meant to use a stun gun but accidently shot her service revolver during a confrontation with a shoplifting suspect outside a grocery store. The 33-year-old woman who was shot remains hospitalized. (St. Louis County Police via AP)

CLAYTON, Mo. (AP) — A suburban St. Louis police officer who says she meant to use her stun gun but mistakenly grabbed her service revolver was indicted on a second-degree assault charge Wednesday for shooting a suspected shoplifter outside a grocery store.

St. Louis County prosecutor Wesley Bell said Julia Crews, 37, is charged in the April 23 shooting on the parking lot of a Schnucks store in Ladue, one of Missouri's wealthiest communities. The woman who was shot was seriously hurt, Bell said.

The 33-year-old woman, who is black, remains in a hospital. While authorities said she will survive, her father, Robert Hall, said she is "fighting for her life." Authorities haven't released her name, but her family identified her as Ashley Hall.

She hasn't been charged in the shoplifting.

Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/St-Louis-area-cop-indicted-for-shooting-13811122.php

[Aussie105]

1. It's time!

It's time for law enforcement agencies in the US to review their training.

Couple of suggestions:

1. Use appropriate force. Shooting a suspected shoplifter doesn't fit that requirement.

2. Teach officers the difference between a stun gun and their service revolver, so that 'Oops, used wrong weapon!' doesn't occur.

[Cold War Spook]

2. Doesn't she know which hand she shoots her service revolver with?

Also, aren't the service revolver and stun gun totally different shapes and weights?

[marble falls]

3. When are they going to indict a white male cop?

[skypilot]

4. This whole "Meant to grab taser/stun gun"...

Last edited Thu May 2, 2019, 01:53 PM - Edit history (1)

...excuse is going to be the new "I was in fear for my life" excuse.

[ROB-ROX]

5. FIRE THE COP AND SEND HER TO PRISON

We are talking about a TRAINED person who wears a badge and is given a gun. It is time for . I hope the lady sues for MILLIONS......

[LiberalLovinLug]

6. I'm all for procecuting bad cops, but this is troubling

She does look genuinely remorseful. Is it stretching my benefit of a doubt, yes, but it is possible she did, in a second of panic, reach instinctively and fire, with her mind thinking "taser" and her conditioned responding hand grabbing her revolver.

I feel awful for her if this was the case and she is sent away to prison for it. Especially when other similar cases have been dismissed.

[Volaris]

7. "i grabbed the wrong weapon"...

Heres an idea: if cops ONLY had stun guns, instead of pistols as well, NO POSSIBILITY OF THIS EVER HAPPENING, is there?

Im glad this person isnt dead (yet). Im glad this cop is getting charged (as she should).