St. Louis city prosecutors have declined to file criminal charges against officers in at least six use-of-force incidents, according to records the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department released this week. The files span encounters that ended in fatal shootings as well as incidents that left civilians injured, and they are already feeding into long-running concerns over how police force is reviewed in the city. Community advocates say the newly surfaced paperwork raises fresh questions about transparency and oversight, even if it finally pulls back the curtain a little.
As reported by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the department’s records carry formal “decline to prosecute” notations that show city prosecutors chose not to pursue charges in at least six separate files. Those records were included in a batch released as officials work through a backlog of unresolved use-of-force cases. According to the documents, the release of the files does not bring internal reviews to a close; those can continue even after prosecutors bow out.
Two of the incidents highlighted in coverage are already familiar names in St. Louis. One is the 2022 officer-involved shooting that killed 16-year-old Darryl Ross, captured in surveillance video and examined by KMOV/First Alert 4. The other is the Oct. 24, 2022, attack at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School, where officers fatally shot the gunman, Orlando Harris, after he killed two people, a sequence of events detailed by The Washington Post.
Backlog and new discipline rules
City officials have acknowledged a lingering backlog of unresolved use-of-force investigations left in the wake of turnover in the circuit attorney’s office, and they are now trying to clean up the pile while updating discipline rules at the same time. First Alert 4 reported that the police department formed a special committee to review more than 60 such cases. In a parallel move, the city’s Board of Police Commissioners adopted new discipline rules meant to tighten timelines for handling officer misconduct and use-of-force matters.
Legal questions remain
On paper, a “decline to prosecute” entry simply means the circuit attorney’s office has decided not to bring criminal charges in that particular case. It does not, however, automatically shut the door on administrative discipline within the department or civil claims in court, according to records and legal observers. The Post-Dispatch noted that these internal declination memos differ from a formal public filing, and that the circuit attorney’s office did not immediately provide public comment on the newly released records. Local lawyers and family members told reporters they expect those disclosures to spark more questions about the underlying evidence and the internal process…