ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- A St. Louis police officer is fighting for his job after he was accused of assaulting a man during an arrest at a casino in July.
The city police department's internal affairs division had recommended Officer Charles Proctor be fired for his conduct during the alleged assault of a handcuffed man in a wheelchair in July at the Lumiere Place Casino downtown.
Proctor, who was suspended from his job as a patrol officer in October, is defending himself at a disciplinary hearing that started today and could last several days. A hearing officer will make a recommendation to the Board of Police Commissioners after hearing evidence in the case.
Police say Proctor went to the Lumiere Place Casino on July 5 to help the Missouri Highway Patrol arrest Jermaine Lacy, 36, of St. Louis, for trespassing after Lacy got into an argument with another gambler.
Lacy has accused Proctor and a state trooper of injuring him badly enough to need a wheelchair to be taken to a police car. Lacy has admitted to teasing Proctor about his weight before the alleged attack.
Lacy had been banned from Missouri casinos as a condition of probation on a 2010 trespassing charge. Lacy has acknowledged having a gambling addiction but has sued the casino claiming it was negligent for letting him enter.
Lacy also has a 2001 conviction for statutory rape.
Proctor, 40, was arrested on suspicion of second-degree assault, a felony, and third-degree assault, a misdemeanor, but prosecutors declined to charge him.
Copyright 2013 - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
