title:  Damning New Evidence Shows Cop Who Murdered Unarmed St. Louis Man Likely Planted Gun
text: In 2011, St. Louis police officer Jason Stockley shot and killed Anthony Lamar Smith, a drug suspect that he was trying to arrest. At the time, Stockley claimed that he saw Smith reaching for a gun, which is why he fired his. Self-defense, that s all it ever is, isn t it? The problem is Smith was unarmed and now there s not just evidence of that, but there s also evidence that Stockley may have done worse than lie.There is a strong possibility that he planted the gun in Smith s car after murdering him to cover his own ass.Smith did flee the scene of a possible drug deal and a high-speed chase ensued. Stockley was carrying a personally-owned AK-47 that Smith, in escaping, almost knocked out of his hands. Stockley was not authorized to carry that weapon while on duty, which goes a long way towards demonstrating Stockley as an unethical officer at the very least. He was also recorded as saying that he was going to kill Smith.Stockley s partner, Brian Bianchi, said that he warned Stockley about a revolver on the seat of Smith s car, and Stockley himself said he feared Smith was about to pull the revolver when he approached: Before striking me [with his car], I observed, in plain view in the subject s hand while resting on the passenger seat, a silver handgun. The handgun was pointing up and towards me Because of the presence of a weapon and because I felt my personal safety was in jeopardy, as was the safety of P.O. Bianchi, and bystanders, I fired several shots at the subject. It s apparently hard to see in the videos whether Stockley handled the revolver; however, it s damned telling that only his DNA was on the gun. Something of Smith would definitely have been there if he d been handling the gun, as Stockley alleged.The St. Louis Board of Police Commissioners did pay a $900,000 settlement to Smith s family in 2013, but Stockley himself was not charged with murder. That is, until this year, when this new evidence came to light.Stockley is now charged with first-degree murder, but is free on a $1 million bond. He left the St. Louis Police Department in 2013. Watch below for more background on this story:Featured image via screen capture from embedded video