Though the timing of the verdict in the Jason Stockley case is unknown, Mayor Lyda Krewson called Tuesday for understanding and calm.
Krewson put out a video in which she said she doesn’t know when a judge will decide whether Stockley, a former St. Louis police officer, is guilty of murder in the 2011 shooting of Anthony Lamar Smith.
She said she is aware of “a lot of anxiety and worry in our community as we wait for that decision.” Activists said last week to expect days of protests if Stockley is acquitted, and St. Louis began putting up barriers last week in places where protests have happened. Stockley is white, Smith was black.
Krewson also wants people to talk with each other and understand how policies affect different people.
Stockley, who left the department in 2013, is the first officer in the St. Louis region to be charged for an on-the-job shooting since 2005.
