St. Louis police officer indicted in shooting of unarmed man in 2018
A grand jury has indicted a St. Louis police officer who is accused of shooting an unarmed man several times from behind during an incident in August 2018. Officer Matthew EarNisse was previously charged in October with first-degree assault and armed criminal action. The case will now head to trial, according to CBS St. Louis affiliate KMOV-TV.
The shooting occurred after officers saw a stolen Mustang and chased the suspect when he wouldn't pull over. The chase eventually ended and the 21-year-old suspect, a black man, left the car and police chased him into a backyard. At the time, the police chief said the suspect allegedly reached for his waistband and that's when EarNisse opened fire.
KMOV-TV reported that investigators found the suspect ran into the backyard and tried scaling a boarded up gate to the gangway when EerNisse began shooting at him. They also said EerNisse continued shooting as the man entered the gangway. The suspect was struck in the back, but survived; his identity has not been released.
"The responding officers did not find a firearm or weapon on his person or nearby [the] victim," the probable cause statement said, according to KMOV-TV. "At no point during the vehicle and foot pursuit was [the] victim seen in possession of a firearm or weapon."
St. Louis Metropolitan Police issued a statement to KMOV-TV in response to the charges: "After a lengthy and thorough investigation by the Department's Force Investigation Unit and Internal Affairs Division, it was determined that a warrant application was the appropriate course of action. This process ensures that officer-involved shooting investigations are conducted in a competent manner which promotes transparency, integrity and the professional standards to which we hold ourselves."
Jeff Roorda, president of the St. Louis City Police Union, said in 2019 that the officer should not have been charged with any crime, according to KMOV-TV.
"It's appropriate on Halloween that we have a criminal masquerading as a prosecutor charging yet another innocent police officer," said Roorda. "We'll let his attorney address the facts of the case, but we are here to stand up for our member and we believe this is about him wearing a badge, not the facts of the case," Roorda added.
KMOV-TV said EerNisse has been on unpaid administrative leave since he was charged. At the time of the incident, the officer had been with the department for about two years.
The Associated Press reported EarNisse's attorney said the officer will be exonerated once all the facts are released.
