ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- A St. Louis police officer who was captured on video beating a man with his baton has been criminally cleared, but the man he repeatedly struck has been charged with misdemeanor assault for lunging at the officer's ankles.
The exchange was caught on video by witnesses and picked up by media after it was posted to YouTube. It was the first the Police Department learned of the early morning New Year's incident at Joel's Shell Station, 1815 Arsenal Street.
The two-minute, 13-second video showed Officer Dustin Ries, 38, pulling a man away from a car, beating him with a police baton and spraying him with pepper spray. Ries, who was off-duty working security at the gas station, handcuffed the man and walked him toward a police substation there.
Ries was put on administrative duty when the video went online. He remains on desk duty and under internal affairs review, notwithstanding the developments in the criminal case Friday.
Ries' supporters said the charge against William Ginger, 21, of the 5100 block of Copperleaf Drive in Imperial, vindicated the officer. The probable cause statement said Ries was forced to use the baton when a "belligerent" Ginger grabbed onto his ankles and refused to let go. It also noted that Ginger was already "highly intoxicated" and bleeding from the face when he arrived at the gas station.
Jeff Roorda, business manager for the St. Louis Police Officer's Association, slammed internal affairs for how it handled the gas station incident and others.
"There's a trend of persecuting our officers instead of prosecuting criminals," he said. "The second-guessing of our officers and the rush to judgment in cases like this serves no purpose for our community."
He said that in this case, Ries was saved because "the prosecutor got it right."
Ginger, reached at his home, seemed surprised that Ries wasn't charged but declined comment.
The Jan. 1 exchange was not the first in which Ries took some heat. The officer had been accused of excessive force three times earlier: twice in 2006 while he was working security at the Big Bang in Laclede's Landing, and once in 2004, during a traffic stop on North Grand Boulevard.
Each resulted in excessive-force lawsuits against Ries, one of which was settled out of court. Criminal charges against the accusers were dropped in each case.
Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce said on Friday that the most recent incident was "a classic case of things are not as they seem." She said her opinion changed once she went beyond the video clip and learned from witnesses about the way Ginger reportedly lunged at Ries' ankles. The video was trained on Ries and did not show Ginger's actions as he disappeared below the screen.
"If you watch wrestling, that's a move that knocks people over," she said, of the ankle-grabbing. "That is, under the law, an assault on Officer Ries."
Joyce said the criminal review looked at whether charges should be brought against Ries, Ginger or anyone else at the gas station.
"The evidence we've discovered in our investigation and all the facts led us to conclude that Officer Ries acted appropriately," she said.
The video of the Jan. 1 incident, caught by a bystander in a nearby car, shows three men who were with Ginger standing nearby, watching the incident without intervening.
One friend reached by the Post-Dispatch after the incident said Ries was justified to "take action" and confirmed that his friend had been grabbing at the officer's legs. He declined to say whether the level of force used by the officer was appropriate.
No police report was filed, which officials have said was a violation of department procedures, and no arrest was made. Ginger didn't file a complaint against the officer, either.
Joyce, in an interview, said that Ries had wanted to take Ginger into custody that night but that his supervisor who arrived later, Sgt. Antonio Triplett, had instructed him not to.
The department declined to comment, given the ongoing internal review of the incident. It wouldn't say whether the sergeant's actions were also being examined.
The only detailed statement from police came after the video hit the Internet.
"While all of the circumstances of the incident are not known, what is seen on the video is extremely disturbing to us," the department said. "Force is to be used only when absolutely necessary."
Ries, who could not be reached for comment, remains on desk duty, notwithstanding the circuit attorney's decision.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
