ST. LOUIS — A representative for St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner confirmed Thursday that she erred when she told a national news network that a traffic stop for no headlights lasted longer than 15 minutes, and got the date wrong in subsequent statements to local media about it.
Gardner’s Diversion Specialist Redditt Hudson addressed reporters during a press conference that Gardner did not attend. He did not answer why she wasn’t there.
“She just became confused about the time,” he said.
He showed an additional surveillance video of the stop that was taken from the post office. It showed the stop lasted for about six minutes, and that it took place on Dec. 23 — not Christmas Eve as her office had insisted earlier this week.
Questions about the encounter surfaced after Gardner told CBS News last week that the stop lasted for more than 15 minutes.
“I was stopped for no lights, but held for over 15 minutes, but I still don’t know the reason why,” she told the reporter. “But it’s OK. But those are intimidation tactics that are used to stop reform.”
Hudson said Gardner’s office got the video on Dec. 26 from the post office, but she saw it for the first time Thursday.
Hudson said Thursday that “someone from the police department” told Gardner that the stop lasted for about 15 minutes, even though she thought it lasted for about 30 minutes. He added that it is “reasonable to believe” that given the current tension between Gardner and the police department that she would feel intimidated when an officer pulled her over, and that she summoned one of her investigators to the scene because of it.
On Jan. 13, Gardner announced that she had filed a lawsuit against the city and the police union for a racially-motivate conspiracy to remove her from office.
He also said the officer knew the vehicle was a city vehicle because of its plates but proceeded with the stop anyway.
“Any other city official is afforded a greater degree of courtesy,” he said.
He then quickly said city officials, including Gardner, should not be given special treatment.
When asked if her office thought the officer acted inappropriately, Hudson said no, but tensions between her office and the police department played a role in her calling the investigator. Hudson also said the tensions warranted another look at the stop.
Hudson also called out St. Louis Police Officers Association Business Manager Jeff Roorda for “lying,” about the encounter. He accused Roorda of saying Gardner’s investigator was “belligerent” with the officer, but said the newly surfaced video shows him shake hands with the officer at least twice.
Hudson showed the video during the press conference and said the office was working to enhance the clarity of the video.
Roorda stood outside of the press conference and addressed reporters.
“Of course he shook his hand, he had a St. Louis Police Department lanyard around his neck,” Roorda said. “But he’s got no business approaching a police officer during a traffic stop.”
The police department issued a statement Wednesday saying the investigator’s actions that night could have warranted an arrest for interfering with the duties of a police officer, but that he was not arrested. The department opened an investigation Wednesday, so spokesman Sgt. Keith Barrett said he could not comment on what the investigator did that could have caused an arrest.
“If it would have been me, I would have arrested him,” Roorda said. “But they’re just trying to bury the headline on this whole thing by attacking me and the union.”
Hudson said that the officer did not intimidate Gardner and that he had nothing bad to say about the officer’s conduct, but said the officer was “belligerent” with Gardner at the beginning of the stop. He said the officer took Gardner’s driver’s license back to his car for “some unknown reason,” for the duration of the stop.
5 On Your Side obtained a copy of the officer's statement, in which he said he went back to his car with her license, “with only the intention of properly completing my traffic analysis. Based on the driver being the Circuit Attorney for the City of St. Louis, at no time did I perform a computer inquiry of Gardner or her vehicle.” The document is required by the state to collect racial profiling data.
He wrote that the stop happened on Dec. 23 at 5:51 p.m. after he saw Gardner's vehicle near Market Street and N. 17th Street without its headlights.
In the statement, the officer wrote that Gardner's investigator asked him if he knew who Gardner was and asked if he was giving her a ticket.
“He then asked if I knew who the driver in the Escape was,” he wrote.
The man also asked why the officer stopped her, and added that she just had her car cleaned and the lights must have been left off.
“I get called whenever she gets pulled over or stopped by the police,” the man told the officer.
He also asked the officer if he was writing Gardner a ticket, and walked back to his car after the officer told her she would not be ticketed. He said he then finished his traffic analysis report – as is required by the state.
Gardner’s investigator turned on her headlights before she pulled away.
