ST ANN, Mo. — A former St. Ann police officer was sentenced Monday for what happened during an encounter with a man during an arrest in 2019.
Ellis Brown III — a 32-year-old High Ridge, Missouri, man — was sentenced to six years in prison for deprivation of civil rights under color of law. A jury found him guilty of the crime during a three-day trial back in June.
In the April 2019 incident, which was captured on video, Brown repeatedly kicked the victim who was lying prone in the parking lot of a bank at Natural Bridge Avenue and Kingshighway Boulevard in St. Louis.
The incident followed a high-speed chase during which Brown and other St. Ann police officers pursued the victim through heavy traffic for more than 20 minutes, traveling over 115 mph at times. Two St. Louis Metropolitan Police officers intervened to stop Brown’s assault.
"Ellis Brown flagrantly abused the trust our community and his peers placed in him,” said U.S. Attorney Sayler Fleming of the Eastern District of Missouri back in June. “I hope Brown’s conviction serves as a deterrent for others in law enforcement who might think about abusing their power.”
The case was investigated by the FBI.
Brown faced a maximum of 10 years in prison.
