MISSOURI
Former St. Louis Metropolitan police officer Thomas Carroll, 52, plead guilty Wednesday to beating a handcuffed suspect who was in possession of his daughter’s credit card, according to officials.
“I have zero tolerance for the actions of police officers who discard justice for their own angry vendetta,” said U.S. Attorney Tammy Dickinson. “I know the vast majority of law enforcement officers join me in repudiating this brand of brutality. This former police officer not only violated the civil rights of a person in police custody, he violated the public trust and his oath of office.”
Carroll plead to depriving Michael Waller of his civil rights by assaulting him while he was handcuffed, officials said.
According to the plea agreement, the government will present evidence at Carroll’s sentencing hearing regarding the severity of the assault, which is in dispute, including evidence that Carroll brandished his gun and put it in Waller’s mouth.
Officials said there is also evidence regarding the extent of the injuries suffered by Waller. The government will also present evidence that Carroll engaged in obstructive conduct in the days immediately after he assaulted Waller, officials said.
Carroll is facing up to 10 years in federal prison without parole and a fine of up to $250,000, officials said.
“I have zero tolerance for the actions of police officers who discard justice for their own angry vendetta,” said U.S. Attorney Tammy Dickinson. “I know the vast majority of law enforcement officers join me in repudiating this brand of brutality. This former police officer not only violated the civil rights of a person in police custody, he violated the public trust and his oath of office.”
For details of plea agreement click here: Court Document
Here are the facts and circumstances surrounding this case:
- Waller was arrested at Ballpark Village on July 22, 2014, because he was unlawfully in possession of a credit card that belonged to Carroll’s daughter.
- Carroll, who was on duty that night, responded to Ballpark Village and confronted Waller, who was already under arrest, handcuffed and seated in the backseat of another officer’s patrol car.
- Carroll yelled at Waller, telling him that he made a “huge mistake” and “broke into the wrong girl’s car.”
- Another police officer then drove Waller to the Central Patrol police station, and Carroll followed behind in his own patrol car.
- Carroll admitted that, despite orders from a superior officer to stay away from Waller, he entered the interview room where Waller was handcuffed and shackled to the floor.
- Carroll began yelling at Waller, questioning him about who broke into his daughter’s car. Carroll threw Waller into a chair and then picked him up and threw him into a wall.
- While Waller. was on the ground, Carroll punched Waller in the torso. Waller was handcuffed throughout the assault.
- As a result, Waller suffered bodily injury.
Waller never posed a threat to Carroll. Nonetheless, Carroll assaulted Waller knowing it was wrong and against the law to do so, and knowing that it violated his oath as police officer, officials said.
By pleading guilty today, Carroll admitted that he deprived the victim of his constitutional right to be free from unreasonable seizure, which includes the right to be free from unreasonable force by a law enforcement officer.
In a separate but related case, a former prosecutor for the St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office plead guilty on Oct. 26, 2015, to concealing her knowledge of Carroll’s assault.
Bliss Barber Worrell, 28, of Clayton, Missouri, plead guilty to “misprision of a felony.”
Worrell was an assistant circuit attorney in the St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office Misdemeanor Division from August 2013 through July 2014. Worrell will be sentenced at a later date.
Worrell admitted that she failed to notify authorities of the assault and that she took an affirmative step to conceal the felony.
Worrell also admitted that she filed charges without disclosing knowledge of the assault to her colleagues, supervisors or the judge assigned to setting a bond.
She admitted that she allowed the charges to stand despite later learning that the facts that made out the charge of attempted escape were fabricated to cover for injuries that the arrestee sustained during the assault.
Bliss Barber Worrell and her colleague Katherine Dierdorf were asked to resign from the St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s office over a year ago, according to a Fox 2 TV report. They stepped down over an incident involving a man who claims he was beaten while arrested.
Worrell served as an assistant circuit attorney in the St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office Misdemeanor Division from August 2013 through July 2014, the Fox report stated.