St. Louis Police Spokesman Assaults a Black Woman at Public Meeting

Jeff Roorda, a spokesman for the St. Louis Police Officer’s Association, grabbed and then shoved a woman named Cachet Currie during a meeting at St. Louis City Hall last night, an incident which was captured on video. Roorda, who attended the meeting wearing a bracelet reading “I am Darren Wilson,” is also accused by bystanders of scratching Currie’s face.

The St. Louis American reports that a City Hall meeting over a bill that would establish a civilian police oversight board erupted into chaos:

Roorda, who was sitting in the audience, had just finished yelling to the public safety committee chairman Alderman Terry Kennedy, “How about some order here?”

His comment came after a police officer was trying to give his testimony on the proposed legislation of a civilian oversight board but was being interrupted by some attendees.

Kennedy responded to Roorda, saying, “First of all, you do not tell me my function.”

After hearing this, Roorda rose from his seat and was trying to move through the crowd towards the front of the room. He first tried to push the young black woman out of his way, and then, according to reports of those close by, pushed and scratched her face.

There’s a full video of the incident here; Currie appears to be trying to brush by Roorda as he’s standing up to make his way to the front of the room. He grabs her arm, shoves her, and swipes at her face. Everyone in the room leaps to their feet; several men then get between him and Currie and push him away from her:

On Twitter, the hashtag #ArrestRoorda is circulating, along with the video and a photo of a cut Currie says she sustained during the assault:

Currie told KMOV she was just trying to leave when Roorda shoved her while having a verbal altercation with another man: “I was literally just trying to leave the meeting and I got caught in whatever Roorda and Kennedy had going on in their exchange,” she said. “Roorda just jumped out into the aisle, pushed me over, and tried to get to Kennedy. I’m like ‘wait a minute, don’t push me.’ Then he started going off on me, pushing me. Some man grabbed me by the hair, just started trying to throw punches at me. From there it just went wild.”

Roorda told KMOV that he was trying to get out in the aisle when Currie “elbowed” him to keep him from leaving, and that “two or three other anti-police radicals” then rushed over “and things de-escalated — I mean escalated from there.” He flatly denied grabbing or shoving Currie.