St. Louis County officer under investigation following traffic stop
By Christine Byers
cbyers@post-dispatch.com 314-340-8087
Oct 15, 2014 05:15 PM
CLAYTON • A St. Louis County police officer is on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of an internal investigation to determine why he was carrying a shotgun during a traffic stop involving Ferguson protesters Monday night.
In a video posted online, the officer can be seen carrying the weapon, but he doesn't point it at anyone.
A man can then be heard saying: "Why is he carrying a gun?"
Another police officer in a different uniform responds, "I don't know. He's a county officer."
The narrator of the video identifies the officer as "Officer Blake," but St. Louis County police would not confirm the officer's name.
County police officer Shawn McGuire said the officer in question was wearing a body camera during the time of the incident, which he said began when the officer tried to pull over a car near the 141 and Hollywood Boulevard exit at about 11 p.m. Monday because the driver failed to use a turn signal.
The officer also heard profanity coming from the vehicle and couldn't tell whether there was a disturbance taking place inside, McGuire said.
"I can't speak for that officer and that time of day, but given how many vehicles pulled over and got out of their cars, maybe he felt threatened, we just don't know from that video," McGuire said. "If I made a car stop and I thought that car would stop and suddenly five others pull over, I would take that as kind of threatening.
"Based on the social media response, this got a lot of hits, we are looking at it based on his approach to the people involved. We want to get things right. We don't want question marks out there."
Once the other vehicles left the area, the officer continued with the traffic stop and discovered the driver of the vehicle, Louis Wilson of the 500 block of Lamotte in Ferguson, was wanted for questioning by the St. Louis police. The officer also found a stolen .38 caliber gun in the driver's trunk.