ST. LOUIS—A white former police officer was acquitted Friday in the fatal shooting of a Black man after a high-speed chase in 2011, reigniting protests in a part of the U.S. that has been at the centre of the country’s debate over police and minority Americans.

Hundreds of demonstrators streamed into the streets of downtown St. Louis to protest against the verdict that had stirred fears of civil unrest for weeks.

Before the acquittal, activists threatened civil disobedience if Jason Stockley were not convicted, including possible efforts to shut down highways. Barricades went up last month around police headquarters, the courthouse where the trial was held and other potential protest sites. Protesters were on the march within hours of the decision.

By Friday evening, 13 arrests had been made and four officers hurt. One officer’s hand was injured and another was pinned by a bike. A third was hit by a bike, and a fourth struck by a water bottle. None was hospitalized, St. Louis interim police Chief Lawrence O’Toole said.

The case played out not far from the suburb of Ferguson, which was the scene of the fatal shooting of Michael Brown, the unarmed black 18-year-old who was killed by a white police officer in 2014. That officer was never charged but eventually resigned.

Stockley, who was charged with first-degree murder, insisted he saw Anthony Lamar Smith holding a gun and felt he was in imminent danger. Prosecutors said the officer planted a gun in Smith’s car after the shooting. The officer asked the case to be decided by a judge instead of a jury.

“This court, in conscience, cannot say that the State has proven every element of murder beyond a reasonable doubt or that the State has proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant did not act in self-defence,” St. Louis Circuit Judge Timothy Wilson wrote in the decision.

The judge declared that he would not be swayed by “partisan interests, public clamour or fear of criticism.”

In a written statement, St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner acknowledged the difficulty of winning police shooting cases but said prosecutors believe they “offered sufficient evidence that proved beyond a reasonable doubt” that Stockley intended to kill Smith.

Assistant Circuit Attorney Robert Steele emphasized during the trial that police dash cam video of the chase captured Stockley saying he was “going to kill this (expletive), don’t you know it.”

Less than a minute later, the officer shot Smith five times. Stockley’s lawyer dismissed the comment as “human emotions” uttered during a dangerous police pursuit. The judge wrote that the statement “can be ambiguous depending on the context.”

Prosecutors objected to the officer’s request for a bench trial. The U.S. Constitution guarantees the right of criminal suspects to have their cases heard “by an impartial jury.” But defendants can also opt to have the verdict rendered by a judge.

Stockley, 36, could have been sentenced to up to life in prison without parole. He left the St. Louis police force in 2013 and moved to Houston.

The case was among several in recent years in which a white officer killed a black suspect. Officers were acquitted in recent police shooting trials in Minnesota, Oklahoma and Wisconsin. A case in Ohio twice ended with hung juries, and prosecutors have decided not to seek a third trial.

Several hundred protesters were marching in the streets of downtown St. Louis within hours after a judge acquitted a white ex-cop of murder in the 2011 killing of a black drug suspect. (The Associated Press)

“It’s a sad day in St. Louis, and it’s a sad day to be an American,” Rev. Clinton Stancil, a protest leader, said regarding the acquittal.

Fears of unrest prompted several downtown businesses and some schools to close early.

Video from St. Louis television stations showed a crowd that swelled from a handful to several hundred in the hours after the verdict and marched through city streets. The group included Black and white protesters and some people carrying guns, which is allowed under state law.

Efforts at civil disobedience were largely unsuccessful. When several demonstrators tried to rush onto Interstate 64, they were blocked on an entrance ramp by police cars and officers on bikes. When they tried to enter the city’s convention centre, the doors were locked.

At times, things escalated. Earlier in the day, protesters stood in front of a bus filled with officers in riot gear, blocking it from moving forward. When officers began pushing back the crowd, protesters resisted and police responded with pepper spray. Later, protesters surrounded a police vehicle and damaged it with rocks. Some in the crowd threw rocks and pieces of curbing at police who tried to secure the vehicle. That led to officers using pepper spray again.

As night came, hundreds of protesters moved to St. Louis’ upscale Central West End section, where they marched and chanted as people looked on from restaurants and hospital windows lining busy Kingshighway. The group tried marching onto I-64 again, but police blocked their path.

Some journalists covering the protests said they were targets of threats and violence from demonstrators. A freelance Associated Press videographer said a protester threw his camera to the ground and damaged it. He said later he was using a different camera and protesters told him they would beat him if he didn’t put it away. A KTVI reporter said water bottles were thrown at him after a protester taunted him, drawing a crowd.

The St. Louis area has a history of unrest in similar cases, including after Brown’s death, when protests, some of them violent, erupted.

In Smith’s case, the encounter began when Stockley and his partner tried to corner Smith in a fast-food restaurant parking lot after seeing what appeared to be a drug deal. Stockley testified that he saw what he believed was a gun, and his partner yelled “gun!” as Smith backed into the police SUV twice to get away.

Stockley’s attorney, Neil Bruntrager, argued that Smith, a 24-year-old parole violator with previous convictions for gun and drug crimes, tried to run over the two officers. Stockley fired seven shots as Smith sped away. A chase ensued.

At the end of the chase, Stockley opened fire only when Smith, still in his car, refused commands to put up his hands and reached along the seat “in the area where the gun was,” Bruntrager said. Stockley said he climbed into Smith’s car and found a revolver between the centre console and passenger seat.

But prosecutors questioned why Stockley dug into a bag in the back seat of the police SUV before returning to Smith’s car.

The gun found in Smith’s car did not have his DNA on it, but it did have Stockley’s.

Here’s a timeline of events leading up to Friday’s ruling:

Dec. 20, 2011

Stockley and his partner see what appears to be a drug transaction on the parking lot of a fast-food restaurant. As they seek to corner Smith, he drives away and Stockley fires seven shots at his car. Defence attorney Neil Bruntrager said the officers were nearly run over.

A two-minute chase begins. Police dash cam video captures Stockley saying, “going to kill this (expletive), don’t you know it,” in the midst of the chase. As Smith’s car slows, Stockley tells Officer Brian Bianchi to “hit him right now,” and Bianchi slams the police SUV into Smith’s car.

Stockley emerges from the SUV and fires five shots into Smith’s car, killing him. Bruntrager said Stockley fired only when Smith refused commands to put up his hands and reached along the seat toward an area where a gun was found.

But prosecutors said Stockley planted a gun. Testing found Stockley’s DNA on the gun, but not Smith’s.

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December 2011

Then-police Chief Dan Isom requests an FBI investigation. Stockley is placed on desk duty.

February 2012

A wrongful-death lawsuit is filed on behalf of Autumn Smith, Anthony Lamar Smith’s 1-year-old daughter.

June 2012

St. Louis Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce’s office meets with then-U.S. Attorney Richard Callahan and both agree there isn’t sufficient evidence to prosecute Stockley.

August 2013

Stockley resigns from the police department one month after then-police Chief Sam Dotson, who took over in January 2013 after Isom’s retirement, suspended Stockley without pay for 30 days for violating pursuit and use-of-force policies in the Smith case.

September 2013

Stockley, now living in Houston, takes a job as a project manager for TH Hill Associates, according to his online resume. He leaves the company in January 2016.

December 2013

The St. Louis Board of Police Commissioners reaches a $900,000 (U.S.) settlement, ending the lawsuit filed on behalf of Smith’s daughter.

Aug. 9, 2014

Michael Brown is fatally shot by police officer Darren Wilson in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, Mo. The killing of the Black, unarmed 18-year-old by a white officer and the November 2014 grand jury decision not to indict Wilson sets off sometimes-violent unrest and leads to scrutiny of police treatment of Blacks in the St. Louis region.

May 16, 2016

Joyce announces first-degree murder charges against Stockley. She cites new evidence, but doesn’t disclose what it is. Stockley is arrested at his home in Houston. He is freed from jail after the St. Louis Police Officers Association, the union representing most St. Louis officers, posts $100,000 of his $1 million bail.

July 24, 2017

Stockley waives his right to a jury trial in favour of a bench trial. Veteran St. Louis Circuit Judge Timothy Wilson is appointed to hear the case.

Aug. 1, 2017

Stockley’s trial begins with a crowd of spectators so large several people have to be turned away.

Aug. 9, 2017

The trial ends, but Judge Wilson gives attorneys from both sides until Aug. 18 to file post-trial briefs.

Aug. 28, 2017

A group of about 50 activists who support Smith’s family gather on the steps of the courthouse where the trial was heard and threaten significant civil disobedience if Stockley is acquitted. Organizers say they’ll shut down highways, Lambert Airport or downtown businesses.

Sept. 15, 2017

Wilson announces a not-guilty verdict for Stockley.

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