Missouri detective charged with kicking person during arrest
ST. LOUIS (AP) — A suburban St. Louis police detective with a series of past misconduct allegations was charged with kicking a defenseless person during a 2019 arrest, federal prosecutors said.
Ellis Brown III, head of the St. Ann police detective bureau, pleaded not guilty Thursday to a federal charge of violating a person's rights during an April 9, 2019, arrest, He is accused of using unreasonable force by repeatedly kicking a person who was compliant and not posing a threat. The person involved was not identified in the criminal affidavit.
Brown was released on bond but ordered to surrender all firearms.
The St. Ann Police Department posted a statement Thursday saying Brown was not longer working there.
“During his employment with the St. Ann Police Department, we received no complaints regarding this officer’s professionalism,” the statement said.
Brown was one of two officers who shot and killed 25-year-old Kajieme Powell in St. Louis in 2014 while investigating reports that Powell stole an energy drink and snacks from a market. Local prosecutors later declined to charge the officers, who said Powell approached them with a knife. A lawsuit from Powell's family against the officers and the city continues, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
St. Ann police hired Brown in February 2017, a month after he left the St. Louis police force during a state disciplinary investigation. He and his partner were following a vehicle that crashed into a light pole and burned. They were accused of not reporting the crash or helping the driver, and later lying about how they spent their time that night.
Brown denied the misconduct, but state officials placed his police license on probation.
Several criminal cases involving Brown in St. Louis were later thrown out when lawyers found he submitted nearly identical language in 19 search warrant applications.
Brown’s defense attorney did not immediately return a request for comment Thursday, the Post-Dispatch reported.
