https://www.riverfronttimes.com/new...-window-during-protest-video-raises-questionsKatie O'Connor, who lives in the neighborhood, says she and her husband witnessed a young man throw something at Culpepper's, through what was then an unbroken window, around 11 p.m., breaking it. Almost immediately after, she snapped the photo above. It clearly shows the large street-facing window has been broken.
At the time, there were not many police officers around, O'Connor says. But officers marched into the neighborhood soon after — and that's when Chris Phillips started shooting the short video that has generated so much interest.
Phillips, a documentary filmmaker whose company is called Maverick Media Group, uploaded his footage to Facebook earlier today. In it, Phillips captures the scene as cops march down the street in a line — part of their attempts to control the protests that broke out in the neighborhood yesterday following the acquittal of former St. Louis cop Jason Stockley.
But the sound of glass breaking loudly causes the cameraman to swing the camera sharply to the left, training it on Culpepper's.
Then the viewer sees a lone police officer walk away from the broken window. He's the only person in the immediate vicinity, and seems to be trying to walk away after the video camera is trained on him, looking nonchalant.
The reaction from observers on the street nearby is instant, and shocked.
"You're dumb as fuck," one woman cries. "Why would they break the fucking windows?"
Says another woman, "He was kicking it down, for no reason."
One woman, talking on her cell phone, says, "He literally just took a thing and completely busted it — two of them — literally just busted."
St Louis' cops have new way to prevent rioters to break things : they break things
