The attorney representing the family of a 17-year-old shot in the back by a St. Louis police officer says newly uncovered allegations involving the officer raise fresh questions about his credibility. The allegations also suggest government attorneys may have failed to turn over key records in court.
In a letter sent to the assistant attorney general representing the Police Board of Commissioners and Officer Brett Carlson, lawyer Al Watkins described a 2021 incident in which Carlson allegedly initiated a chase and tased a woman who he claimed was driving a stolen car. She wasn’t. Watkins also stated in the letter that Carlson falsely claimed the woman was both attempting to stab herself and lunging at officers with knives. “The driver did not have knives and that portion of the report was simply false,” Watkins wrote to Assistant Attorney General Jessica Ward.
Watkins argues that the November 2021 incident involving Carlson is salient for two reasons. Watkins says that no reports about it were made available to him as part of the discovery in the lawsuit filed by the family of 17-year-old Emeshyon Wilkins, who was fatally shot by officer Carlson three years later. Those records were relevant and should have been turned over, he says…