A hearing at St. Louis City Hall to discuss a police oversight panel erupted in protests and shoving after Alderman Terry Kennedy and St. Louis Police Officers Association’s Jeff Roorda engaged in a heated exchange.
Mr. Roorda reportedly yelled from the audience, “How about some order here,” after a police officer’s attempt to speak at the podium was interrupted by the audience, The Huffington Post reported.
Mr. Kennedy then responded, “You do not tell me my function,” The Post reported.
Mr. Roorda wound to the front of the room, reportedly pushing a woman out of the way in the process.
“I was literally just trying to leave the meeting and I got caught in whatever Roorda and Kennedy had going on in their exchange,” the woman told the local CBS News affiliate. “Roorda just jumped out into the aisle, pushed me over and tried to get to Kennedy. I’m like, ’wait a minute, don’t push me.’ Then he started going off on me, pushing me.
“Some man grabbed me by the hair, just started trying to throw punches at me. From there it just went wild,” the woman said.
Mr. Roorda denied pushing the woman, whom he said “began elbowing me and pushing” to prevent him from getting out the aisle he was in, the affiliate reported.
Others in the room began shouting and a fray broke out, as police tried to hold back Mr. Roorda from getting into fights with other attendees, The Post reported.
The meeting, attended by more than 100, was aimed at discussing the specifics of a police oversight board that’s come in the wake of former Officer Darren Wilson’s deadly shooting of black Ferguson teen Michael Brown.
Alderman Antonio French, who’s sponsoring the bill to create a citizen oversight board, said the chaos that came at this week’s meeting only underscores the lingering tensions in the community.
“We saw once again tonight how fractured our city remains,” he said, The Post reported. “We have a lot of work to do.”
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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