Ferguson Hired Officer With History Of Allegedly Hitting Children
Matt Sledge 08/19/14 04:56 PM ET
He resigned from St. Louis city police under a cloud of suspicion. Missouri tried to make sure he couldn't walk the beat. But one officer with a history of allegations of hitting children found a willing employer in the Ferguson Police Department.
The saga of Eddie Boyd III underlines the troubles surrounding Ferguson's tiny police force, which has been engulfed in controversy ever since one of its officers shot 18-year-old Michael Brown on Aug. 9.
In a city where the killing of an unarmed black teenager by a white cop has revealed profound racial tensions, Boyd's story represents an anomaly: he is one of just three African-American police officers in a department of 53.
But that doesn't mean he's an exception in other ways. Citing Boyd and other examples, critics claim that Ferguson and the St. Louis area in general have serious problems with police accountability.
"Americans love a second chance," said Matthew Devoti, a civil rights lawyer who represented one teen in a failed lawsuit against Boyd. "The question, I guess, is 'When is enough, enough?'"
In the city of St. Louis, the complaints against Boyd started rolling in nearly a decade ago, not long after he left the police academy. The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department's internal affairs division investigated two allegations of physical abuse against children in 2004 and 2005 but did not sustain them, meaning that the investigation did not reveal sufficient evidence to support the allegations.
Internal affairs did sustain the third serious complaint against Boyd, however. In April 2006, Boyd got into an argument with 12-year-old Jerica Thornton while following the girl and her brother home from school, according to a judge's summary of the investigation.
After a verbal altercation turned physical, Boyd tackled the brother to the ground. When Jerica came to his aid, Boyd struck her in the head with his gun.
Boyd later claimed that he had pistol-whipped the girl "accidentally." Internal affairs disagreed, recommending that Boyd be dropped from the department's rolls.
But instead of firing him, in November 2006, the St. Louis police demoted Boyd to the status of a probationary police officer. They also apparently failed to give him additional supervision -- a mistake that would cost them.
