ST. LOUIS — A former St. Louis police officer was acquitted Friday of charges that he assaulted three people with pepper spray during a protest near Busch Stadium in 2017.
Judge Thom C. Clark wrote in his ruling that he found William Oltsen's use of pepper spray justified because it followed verbal threats of violence, two physical attacks on other officers and several police orders for the crowd to disperse, the St. Louis Post-Dispatchreported.
Olsten was charged with three felony counts of third-degree assault for the incident on Sept. 29, 2017, during one of several protests that followed the acquittal of former officer Jason Stockley on a murder charge. Stockley, who is white, had been accused in the shooting death of a Black suspect.
Assistant Circuit Attorney Jeff Estes said at trial that Olsten had no justification to use pepper spray on people participating in a peaceful protest and did so only to punish them, in part, for screaming obscenities at him.
The three hit with pepper spray – protest organizer Amir Brandy, live-streamer Heather DeMian and Democratic state Rep. Rasheen Aldridge – testified that Olsten sprayed them without warning.
