Missouri officers accused of assaulting black woman, son

By JIM SALTER
yesterday

O’FALLON, Mo. (AP) — A lawsuit filed Monday accuses four white suburban St. Louis police officers of brutalizing a 68-year-old black woman and her adult son after wrongly accusing them of stealing a television.

Marvia Gray alleges she suffered serious and permanent injuries during her arrest at a Sam’s Club store in Des Peres, Missouri, on March 23. Her 43-year-old son, Derek, suffered a concussion, three shattered teeth and other injuries, according to the lawsuit.

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Derek Gray lives in Virginia and works in security. His mother is in frail health with osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis, glaucoma and other ailments, Stroth said, so Derek Gray took leave from his job to care for her at her home in Creve Coeur, Missouri, another St. Louis suburb.

At the Sam’s Club, Derek Gray purchased a 65-inch Sony Bravia flat-screen TV for his mother, along with other items, Stroth said. When they got to his SUV they realized everything wouldn’t fit, so Derek Gray asked the store to hold the TV until he could return later and pick it up.

The trouble began when he went back to the store. At first, the lawsuit said, someone at the store expressed suspicion that Gray was trying to steal the TV. A store employee interceded and confirmed that Gray had paid for the TV and was there to pick it up.

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