Now this is muddy.
Wecht says Myers was shot eight times – six of those shots were fired at his back, possibly as Vonderit ran from the police officer.
Wecht showed the wounds in Vonderit’s legs and said one of the shots shattered his femur.
Wecht also says Vonderit was shot in the groin and the fatal shot was to the right side of his head between his eye brow and ear. Attorneys for Myers’ family say the shots are consistent with what eye-witnesses said at the scene — that Myers was running away from the officer.
I think the shot to the head is going to be most problematic. The claim is that Vonderitt shot at the off duty cop working security (for who?) One question is whether under the law an off duty police officer has the same privileges as an on duty officer when it comes to dealing with "suspects". That is, can he chase folks acting "suspiciously"? If fired upon, can he give chase and return fire? And lastly, do we have evidence to support the claim that the gun jammed 3 times?
Unlike the Wilson-Brown confrontation where Wilson is acting under color of law, I'm not entirely sure that this off duty cop is covered the same way while working "security" (for who?).
The incident that led to the shooting began about 7:30 p.m. CT when an off-duty officer noticed three men near the corner of Shaw Boulevard and Klemm Street in St. Louis. Police Chief Sam Dotson said during a news conference that the men began running when they saw the officer, who responded by chasing one of them.
The officer was working as a security guard at the time, but wearing his St. Louis police uniform, Dotson said. [My underlines]
Is it proper for an officer working a private security firm to be wearing his police uniform? What are the regulations about that. This is important, IMO, because it's one thing to run from a police officer (as was claimed) it is another to run from a rent a cop. Furthermore running is not a crime unless one has been detained by an officer. There was no report of the officer/security guard detaining or asking to detain Vonderitt.
So STLPD is going to have to explain the protocols of it's officers working security in STLPD uniform. It is going to have to explain the powers they have when off the clock and working for a private agency. It is going to have to explain whether a officer working for a private company has "shoot to kill" jurisdiction or even "shoot" jurisdiction outside of the private property being "secured".
This is definitely NOT a Michael Brown situation.
