Officer said, “Going to kill this motherfucker!” moments before shooting the man to death, according to reports.

Joe Harris | Courthouse News Service

ST. LOUIS (CN) — City prosecutors charged a former St. Louis police officer with first-degree murder for a 2011 shooting after a traffic chase.

Jason Stockley, 35, was charged Monday with the shooting death of Anthony Lamar Smith. Protesters demanded the charges last month in a demonstration outside St. Louis City Hall.











According to a probable cause statement attached to the first-degree murder complaint, Stockley shot into Smith’s car in north St. Louis on Dec. 20, 2011, then pursued him at more than 80 miles per hour.

“During the pursuit, the defendant is heard saying ‘going to kill this motherfucker, don’t you know it,'” according to the probable cause statement.

As Smith’s car slowed to a stop, Stockley told the other officer to “Hit him right now,” at which point the driver slammed the police SUV into the victim’s car, according to the probable cause statement. “The defendant then approached the victim’s car on the driver’s side and shot five times into the car, striking the victim A.S. with each shot.”



A gun recovered from the victim’s car was determined to have only Stockley’s DNA on it.

“We believe we have the evidence we need to prove Mr. Stockley’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law,” St. Louis Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce said in a statement.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office reviewed this case at the request of the police department in 2012. Both the FBI and the police department’s Internal Affairs Division did extensive work gathering evidence, though no charges were filed.

In March this year, police Internal Affairs investigators contacted the Circuit Attorney’s Office to review the matter with additional evidence developed by police and the FBI.











“The department spent countless hours on this case, all in an effort to ascertain the true facts of what occurred on December 20, 2011,” St. Louis Police Chief Same Dotson said in a statement Tuesday. “I hold my officers to the highest standards. Stockley’s actions were in no way representative of the dedicated service of the men and women who serve on this department.”

Stockley, now of Houston, Texas, was taken into custody by U.S. Marshals. He is in custody in Harris County, Texas. St. Louis Circuit Judge Michael Mullen ordered him held without bail.

Stockley resigned from the force in August 2013

Published by Courthouse News Service.









