Homeowner says he was asleep during violent traffic stop caught on doorbell camera

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    St. Louis, MO (KMOV) — A north St. Louis County homeowner says he was asleep on his couch when a violent traffic stop spilled over onto his front yard.

The man, who did not want to be identified, said his neighbor called him around 11:30 Tuesday night to find out why police were in his front yard.

“I got up and peeked through the windows and seen the police had a man faced down in my yard, handcuffed,” the homeowner said.

He said he then went to his front door, where a police officer explained what was going on.

“They was chasing, trying to apprehend some suspects and a couple of them may have run through the gangway back there,” he said.

He said while talking to the officer at his door, he noticed the man lying in his front yard, handcuffed, was yelling.

“He was screaming,” he said. “He kept saying he didn’t have anything on him, so they were probably asking him where the gun was.”

It was later that the homeowner went back to review his home security footage to see the man, running from officers, struck by an unmarked police car. Moments later, the officer and the man get into a scuffle in the grass.

“I mean I just was in disgust,” he said. “With all that’s going on, they don’t need more stuff like that. I just didn’t like what I seen.”

The Florissant Police Department said the officer in question is suspended. Two other officers are on leave.

The man struck by the officer’s car was treated for an ankle injury, according to police. Charges are pending against him related to drug paraphernalia and resisting arrest.

The incident took place on Tuesday, June 2, but the department’s chief said he found out about it on Saturday. An internal investigation is being launched into why it took four days for the chief to learn of what happened.

The homeowner said Saturday evening, county police officers came to his home and took pictures and collected evidence around his yard for nearly four hours.

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