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Someone sure needs to look at this little town gone wrong...
Here is the original video that got this all started:
Cop gone wild- Lying and making threats just part of his job
This has been all over the news and here is a video on this on CNN
Video - Breaking News Videos from CNN.com
Here is another story: STLtoday - News - St. Louis City / County
The irony is that after this all happened, there seemed to be something wrong with the dash cam on the cruser... It worked the day following the event, just not that night (hmmm yea, right 
)
REFERENCE: STLtoday - News - St. Louis City / County
Here is a follow-up (no link):
Here is a follow-up with some more history from this cracy little town
See: STLtoday - News - St. Louis City / County
Here is the original video that got this all started:
Cop gone wild- Lying and making threats just part of his job
This has been all over the news and here is a video on this on CNN
Video - Breaking News Videos from CNN.com
Here is another story: STLtoday - News - St. Louis City / County
Officer in trouble over motorist's video in South County
By Patrick M. O'Connell and Georgina Gustin
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
09/11/2007
ST. GEORGE — A car-mounted video camera — more commonly used by police than against them — captured a loud and threatening confrontation in this tiny St. Louis County community that left an officer on suspension and the whole world able to listen in.
The picture doesn't show much, but the audio part of the recording, posted on Google Video and YouTube on the Internet, brought more than 300 protest calls to St. George Police Chief Scott Uhrig.
"I was very displeased when I saw the actions on the video," Uhrig said. "My officers are not trained and taught to act like that."
He put Sgt. James Kuehnlein on unpaid suspension pending further investigation.
Uhrig said the officer's actions were not justified, and he insisted the episode is not representative of his department.
A voice identified as Kuehnlein's can be heard taunting the driver and threatening to jail him on fabricated charges.
The tape, made late last week, was from a camera running in the vehicle Kuehnlein approached, police said.
Brett Darrow, 20, of St. Louis, said he was the driver who recorded the exchange. He posted it online Saturday.
"I wanted everybody to see that this kind of stuff does happen," Darrow said. "I thought if I just go to the chief or whatever, it would just get swept under the rug."
Kuehnlein could not be reached for comment Monday night. RELATED LINKS
Police video from St. George
TODAY'S TALK: Do you have experience with speed traps? Angry cops?
St. George, a municipality of about 1,300, sits along Interstate 55 at Reavis Barracks Road.
In the video, Kuehnlein, a St. George officer for about two years, approaches a young man who was sitting in a parked car about 2 a.m. in a commuter lot near Spokane and Reavis Barracks roads. Kuehnlein asks for identification. When Darrow asks whether he did anything wrong, the officer orders him out of the car and begins shouting.
"You want to try me? You want to try me tonight? You think you have a bad night? I will ruin your night. … Do you want to try me tonight, young boy?"
Darrow says no.
"Do you want to go to jail for some (expletive) reason I come up with?" the police officer says. Later, Darrow says, "I don't want any problems, officer."
"You're about to get it," Kuehnlein is heard saying. "You already started your (expletive) problems with your attitude."
After the officer notices the camera, he says, "I don't really care about your cameras, 'cause I'm about ready to tow your car, then we can tear 'em all apart."
After more than 10 minutes of interaction, Darrow is allowed to go.
Darrow said he was not trying to entrap the officer. He said he pulled into the commuter lot to meet a friend. When the officer asked him for identification, Darrow said he didn't immediately present it because he believes the officer stopped him without probable cause.
Darrow said he installed the cameras in his Nissan Maxima after past run-ins with police. He said he was involved in a physical confrontation in 2005 with an off-duty St. Louis police officer, in a case Darrow said was later dismissed.
Darrow said he plans to meet with Uhrig today to discuss the weekend incident.
Chief Uhrig said Kuehnlein stopped to talk to Darrow because police have received reports of thefts from cars in the area. But, Uhrig said, based on his viewing of the online video, the officer acted inappropriately when he threatened to make up charges, and used a disrespectful tone and inappropriate language.
"We don't do that," Uhrig said. "Someone either violated the law or they didn't. You don't say, I'll lock you up and then come up with why afterward."
Joel Currier of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
poconnell@post-dispatch.com | 314-863-2821
ggustin@post-dispatch.com | 618-624-2438
By Patrick M. O'Connell and Georgina Gustin
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
09/11/2007
ST. GEORGE — A car-mounted video camera — more commonly used by police than against them — captured a loud and threatening confrontation in this tiny St. Louis County community that left an officer on suspension and the whole world able to listen in.
The picture doesn't show much, but the audio part of the recording, posted on Google Video and YouTube on the Internet, brought more than 300 protest calls to St. George Police Chief Scott Uhrig.
"I was very displeased when I saw the actions on the video," Uhrig said. "My officers are not trained and taught to act like that."
He put Sgt. James Kuehnlein on unpaid suspension pending further investigation.
Uhrig said the officer's actions were not justified, and he insisted the episode is not representative of his department.
A voice identified as Kuehnlein's can be heard taunting the driver and threatening to jail him on fabricated charges.
The tape, made late last week, was from a camera running in the vehicle Kuehnlein approached, police said.
Brett Darrow, 20, of St. Louis, said he was the driver who recorded the exchange. He posted it online Saturday.
"I wanted everybody to see that this kind of stuff does happen," Darrow said. "I thought if I just go to the chief or whatever, it would just get swept under the rug."
Kuehnlein could not be reached for comment Monday night. RELATED LINKS
Police video from St. George
TODAY'S TALK: Do you have experience with speed traps? Angry cops?
St. George, a municipality of about 1,300, sits along Interstate 55 at Reavis Barracks Road.
In the video, Kuehnlein, a St. George officer for about two years, approaches a young man who was sitting in a parked car about 2 a.m. in a commuter lot near Spokane and Reavis Barracks roads. Kuehnlein asks for identification. When Darrow asks whether he did anything wrong, the officer orders him out of the car and begins shouting.
"You want to try me? You want to try me tonight? You think you have a bad night? I will ruin your night. … Do you want to try me tonight, young boy?"
Darrow says no.
"Do you want to go to jail for some (expletive) reason I come up with?" the police officer says. Later, Darrow says, "I don't want any problems, officer."
"You're about to get it," Kuehnlein is heard saying. "You already started your (expletive) problems with your attitude."
After the officer notices the camera, he says, "I don't really care about your cameras, 'cause I'm about ready to tow your car, then we can tear 'em all apart."
After more than 10 minutes of interaction, Darrow is allowed to go.
Darrow said he was not trying to entrap the officer. He said he pulled into the commuter lot to meet a friend. When the officer asked him for identification, Darrow said he didn't immediately present it because he believes the officer stopped him without probable cause.
Darrow said he installed the cameras in his Nissan Maxima after past run-ins with police. He said he was involved in a physical confrontation in 2005 with an off-duty St. Louis police officer, in a case Darrow said was later dismissed.
Darrow said he plans to meet with Uhrig today to discuss the weekend incident.
Chief Uhrig said Kuehnlein stopped to talk to Darrow because police have received reports of thefts from cars in the area. But, Uhrig said, based on his viewing of the online video, the officer acted inappropriately when he threatened to make up charges, and used a disrespectful tone and inappropriate language.
"We don't do that," Uhrig said. "Someone either violated the law or they didn't. You don't say, I'll lock you up and then come up with why afterward."
Joel Currier of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
poconnell@post-dispatch.com | 314-863-2821
ggustin@post-dispatch.com | 618-624-2438
)REFERENCE: STLtoday - News - St. Louis City / County
Young man taunted by policeman wants officer fired
By Georgina Gustin
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
09/12/2007
St. George Police Chief Scott Uhrig talks with Brett Darrow, 20, Tuesday afternoon.
(J.B. Forbes/P-D)
St. George — A young St. Louis man who videotaped a police officer's angry taunts during a traffic stop, and later posting the footage on the Internet where thousands of viewers have watched it, said Tuesday he wants the officer fired.
Brett Darrow, 20, met with St. George Police Chief Scott Uhrig for more than an hour Tuesday afternoon and also filed a formal complaint against the officer, Sgt. James Kuehnlein.
During the meeting Darrow asked to see the videotape from Kuehnlein's police car. But according to Uhrig, that footage, inexplicably, is nowhere to be found.
"That's the million-dollar question," Uhrig said. "Our policy says any contact the officer has with the public has to be on tape."
Darrow had pulled into a commuter lot at Spokane and Reavis Barracks roads at around 2 a.m. Friday, when Kuehnlein approached and asked him what he was doing. When Darrow questioned why, Kuehnlein launched into a series of taunts and threats.
"The attitude escalated when he thought I was questioning his authority, but I was just trying to figure out what he was doing," Darrow said Tuesday. "I was really scared. He was up in my face, spit coming in my face."
A camera in Darrow's Nissan Maxima captured the incident. Darrow, a St. Louis Community College student, said he put the camera in the car about a year ago after getting a speeding ticket.
"I got a ticket I didn't feel like I deserved," he said. "I was thinking tickets, not this."
In the footage, Darrow can be heard citing his Fourth Amendment rights — his reasonable expectation of privacy — to Kuehnlein. He said Tuesday he's familiar with the law, through "reading statutes, reading constitutional law, reading case law. It's just something I'm interested in."
He said he was not trying to entrap the officer. RELATED LINKS
Officer in trouble over motorist's video in South County
Police video from St. George
Kuehnlein could not be reached for comment.
After the incident, Darrow posted the footage on the Internet, where news of it spread quickly. He maintains he did not contact news media and had no idea the matter would get so much attention.
"I didn't mean for it to be what it was," he said.
Darrow said he was in the lot at that late hour because he had just left his cell phone at his girlfriend's house, and the two decided to meet there to hand off the phone because the location was convenient.
Kuehnlein has been an officer with the department for about two years, and had come from the Riverview Police Department. Uhrig said Tuesday that, perhaps, Kuehnlein was not accustomed to having someone question him as Darrow did, with a camera recording his responses.
"Most officers aren't used to being questioned like that," Uhrig said.
St. George, a city of about 1,300 people, sits along Interstate 55 at Reavis Barracks Road. Its police department has four full-time officers and three police cars. An officer can patrol every street in the city in about 20 minutes, Uhrig said.
Uhrig said he has worked hard to cleanse St. George of its image as a speed trap with a police department staffed by unqualified novices. He said he has implemented new, more stringent hiring policies and expanded the department's policy manual since becoming chief two-and-a-half years ago.
"We have a reputation for being traffic enforced," he said. "It's not true. My officers are told to enforce the law. I want quality, not quantity. I want the drugs, the impaired drivers. Those're the things that make a difference."
Uhrig said he would submit a report on the incident to the city's police review board and the St. Louis County prosecutor as early as this week.
ggustin@post-dispatch.com | 618-624-2438
By Georgina Gustin
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
09/12/2007
St. George Police Chief Scott Uhrig talks with Brett Darrow, 20, Tuesday afternoon.
(J.B. Forbes/P-D)
St. George — A young St. Louis man who videotaped a police officer's angry taunts during a traffic stop, and later posting the footage on the Internet where thousands of viewers have watched it, said Tuesday he wants the officer fired.
Brett Darrow, 20, met with St. George Police Chief Scott Uhrig for more than an hour Tuesday afternoon and also filed a formal complaint against the officer, Sgt. James Kuehnlein.
During the meeting Darrow asked to see the videotape from Kuehnlein's police car. But according to Uhrig, that footage, inexplicably, is nowhere to be found.
"That's the million-dollar question," Uhrig said. "Our policy says any contact the officer has with the public has to be on tape."
Darrow had pulled into a commuter lot at Spokane and Reavis Barracks roads at around 2 a.m. Friday, when Kuehnlein approached and asked him what he was doing. When Darrow questioned why, Kuehnlein launched into a series of taunts and threats.
"The attitude escalated when he thought I was questioning his authority, but I was just trying to figure out what he was doing," Darrow said Tuesday. "I was really scared. He was up in my face, spit coming in my face."
A camera in Darrow's Nissan Maxima captured the incident. Darrow, a St. Louis Community College student, said he put the camera in the car about a year ago after getting a speeding ticket.
"I got a ticket I didn't feel like I deserved," he said. "I was thinking tickets, not this."
In the footage, Darrow can be heard citing his Fourth Amendment rights — his reasonable expectation of privacy — to Kuehnlein. He said Tuesday he's familiar with the law, through "reading statutes, reading constitutional law, reading case law. It's just something I'm interested in."
He said he was not trying to entrap the officer. RELATED LINKS
Officer in trouble over motorist's video in South County
Police video from St. George
Kuehnlein could not be reached for comment.
After the incident, Darrow posted the footage on the Internet, where news of it spread quickly. He maintains he did not contact news media and had no idea the matter would get so much attention.
"I didn't mean for it to be what it was," he said.
Darrow said he was in the lot at that late hour because he had just left his cell phone at his girlfriend's house, and the two decided to meet there to hand off the phone because the location was convenient.
Kuehnlein has been an officer with the department for about two years, and had come from the Riverview Police Department. Uhrig said Tuesday that, perhaps, Kuehnlein was not accustomed to having someone question him as Darrow did, with a camera recording his responses.
"Most officers aren't used to being questioned like that," Uhrig said.
St. George, a city of about 1,300 people, sits along Interstate 55 at Reavis Barracks Road. Its police department has four full-time officers and three police cars. An officer can patrol every street in the city in about 20 minutes, Uhrig said.
Uhrig said he has worked hard to cleanse St. George of its image as a speed trap with a police department staffed by unqualified novices. He said he has implemented new, more stringent hiring policies and expanded the department's policy manual since becoming chief two-and-a-half years ago.
"We have a reputation for being traffic enforced," he said. "It's not true. My officers are told to enforce the law. I want quality, not quantity. I want the drugs, the impaired drivers. Those're the things that make a difference."
Uhrig said he would submit a report on the incident to the city's police review board and the St. Louis County prosecutor as early as this week.
ggustin@post-dispatch.com | 618-624-2438
Lawyer for officer caught on tape says driver baits police
By Georgina Gustin
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
09/13/2007
An attorney hired by the St. George police officer caught on tape berating a St. Louis driver said Wednesday that the motorist lures police officers into aggressive behavior.
"This is clearly a case where this young man is baiting police officers," attorney Travis L. Noble said. "This isn't someone who just happened upon this."
Brett Darrow, 20, posted a video on the Internet of Sgt. James Kuehnlein threatening him as he sat in his car in a commuter parking lot last week. The clip has sparked national attention and local controversy.
It wasn't the first time Darrow captured interaction with police and posted it online.
Late last year, Darrow approached a police checkpoint with his in-car camera rolling. When the officer asked where he was going, he replied, "I don't wish to discuss my personal life with you, officer."
The officer ordered him out of the car, and the two argued.
Some people, including police officers, say Darrow makes a habit of baiting cops. St. George Police Chief Scott Uhrig said Kuehnlein's behavior was out of line but questioned why Darrow's car is decked out with scanners and a radar detector in addition to the camera.
Darrow said, "They call me 'video boy'" on a local police Internet forum. But he denies he's trying to entrap officers.
"They think I'm out to get them, but they're stopping me," Darrow said.
He said he had a run-in with an off-duty St. Louis police officer two years ago and was arrested on suspicion of assault. The case was later dismissed. Months later, he installed a video camera in his car.
"I just want to even the playing field," he said.
Noble said he agrees that Kuehnlein's initial reaction was aggressive but said the officer was likely trying to gain control over what he perceived to be a suspicious situation.
"Apparently he knows how officers operate," Noble added, referring to Darrow. "He drives past a cop, pulls into an empty lot, turns off the lights and waits. That is absolutely going to draw the attention of the officer."
By Georgina Gustin
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
09/13/2007
An attorney hired by the St. George police officer caught on tape berating a St. Louis driver said Wednesday that the motorist lures police officers into aggressive behavior.
"This is clearly a case where this young man is baiting police officers," attorney Travis L. Noble said. "This isn't someone who just happened upon this."
Brett Darrow, 20, posted a video on the Internet of Sgt. James Kuehnlein threatening him as he sat in his car in a commuter parking lot last week. The clip has sparked national attention and local controversy.
It wasn't the first time Darrow captured interaction with police and posted it online.
Late last year, Darrow approached a police checkpoint with his in-car camera rolling. When the officer asked where he was going, he replied, "I don't wish to discuss my personal life with you, officer."
The officer ordered him out of the car, and the two argued.
Some people, including police officers, say Darrow makes a habit of baiting cops. St. George Police Chief Scott Uhrig said Kuehnlein's behavior was out of line but questioned why Darrow's car is decked out with scanners and a radar detector in addition to the camera.
Darrow said, "They call me 'video boy'" on a local police Internet forum. But he denies he's trying to entrap officers.
"They think I'm out to get them, but they're stopping me," Darrow said.
He said he had a run-in with an off-duty St. Louis police officer two years ago and was arrested on suspicion of assault. The case was later dismissed. Months later, he installed a video camera in his car.
"I just want to even the playing field," he said.
Noble said he agrees that Kuehnlein's initial reaction was aggressive but said the officer was likely trying to gain control over what he perceived to be a suspicious situation.
"Apparently he knows how officers operate," Noble added, referring to Darrow. "He drives past a cop, pulls into an empty lot, turns off the lights and waits. That is absolutely going to draw the attention of the officer."
See: STLtoday - News - St. Louis City / County
Police tales put town on map
By Jeremy Kohler
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
09/13/2007
St. George Police Chief Scott Uhrig watches the controversial video on the internet.
(J.B. Forbes /P-D)
St. George — Video of a police sergeant taunting and threatening a motorist put the St. Louis area in the national spotlight, with the footage serving as a symbol of cops gone wild.
But even lifelong St. Louisans might need a map and a magnifying glass to locate the hamlet that's giving law enforcement a black eye.
It's St. George. It's one-fifth of a square mile of small brick homes and condominiums — amid a sea of small brick homes and condominiums — at Interstate 55 and Reavis Barracks Road in south St. Louis County.
Like so many of the county's 91 municipalities, it's a subdivision with police power, and no shortage of it. For a tiny town and police force, St. George has had its share of police controversy.
It has drawn complaints for years that it is a speed trap. A police chief there 26 years ago was convicted of a mob hit.
And this week, a video from Brett Darrow, 20, became an Internet hit. Darrow pulled into a commuter lot off Interstate 55 — outside St. George's city limits — around 2 a.m. Friday, when Sgt. James Kuehnlein approached and asked him what he was doing.
When Darrow asked why, Kuehnlein launched into a series of taunts and threats.
A check of court records shows Kuehnlein himself pleaded guilty of assault and stealing in two different cases, in 1988 and 1990. He successfully petitioned a judge in St. Louis County in 1998 to expunge his criminal record, which was making it hard for him to get work as a cop.
The judge ordered those records sealed, as well as records of an acquittal for drunken driving and an assault arrest that did not result in charges.
St. George Police Chief Scott Uhrig earlier this week suspended Kuehnlein without pay while he investigates the case. On Wednesday, Kuehnlein hired attorney Travis L. Noble, a former police officer. He said he would review the unedited video today. RELATED LINKS
Lawyer for officer caught on tape says driver baits police
Officer in trouble over motorist's video in South County
Young man taunted by policeman wants officer fired
Police video from St. George
Uhrig said he has worked hard to cleanse the city of its image as a speed trap with a police department staffed by novices. But even he is not untouched by scandal.
Five years ago, an administrative commission upheld an accusation that Uhrig propositioned a 17-year-old girl for sex during a traffic stop in 2000, when he was an Arnold officer.
Chrystal Cole's civil rights lawsuit against Uhrig and the city went to mediation; the disposition was not made public.
Cole told investigators that Uhrig had her drive to an empty parking lot where he spoke of jail, petted her arm and face, told her she was "beautiful, hot, and tempting," and suggested a "quickie."
At the time, Uhrig denied ever seeing Cole that night, and said that she had fabricated the story out of malice over her previous contact with Arnold police.
The commission upheld Cole's accusation.
On Wednesday, Uhrig reacted angrily to questions about the case and repeatedly denied the accusation.
In an e-mailed statement, he said, "This incident that I was accused of seven years ago does not (have) anything to do with the current situation."
St. George has just under 1,300 people, but its police wrote about 3,000 tickets there in 2005.
To Gary Hardesty, a St. George resident for 39 years, his city is "a speed trap." To little benefit of residents, he said, officers camp out on the main thoroughfare, Reavis Barracks Road, and pull over drivers.
"If the officers had a good reputation and were qualified, they wouldn't work for this department," said Hardesty, 65.
Some who have gotten tickets might have wondered why St. George even exists. They can thank moms in two subdivisions, back in 1948, who wanted their kids bused to school. Bayless schools would not send buses. So the subdivisions incorporated as St. George, which allowed them to join Affton schools.
Police misconduct is an old story in St. George. In 1981, Chief Milton Russell Schepp worked with the so-called "Syrian underworld" to plant a bomb in a car driven by mobster Paul J. Leisure. Leisure survived the blast, and Schepp went to prison.
St. George Mayor Harold Goodman said earlier this week that the case of Brett Darrow was "an isolated incident." He did not return a call seeking comment Wednesday.
Paul Keene, a city alderman, said that although Kuehnlein shouldn't have lost his temper with Darrow, the city's police officers act appropriately.
If people think police issue too many tickets, they should slow down, he said. "They go 10 to 15 miles over the speed limit there, and they need to be corrected."
William C. Lhotka and Georgina Gustin of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
jkohler@post-dispatch.com | 314-340-8337
By Jeremy Kohler
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
09/13/2007
St. George Police Chief Scott Uhrig watches the controversial video on the internet.
(J.B. Forbes /P-D)
St. George — Video of a police sergeant taunting and threatening a motorist put the St. Louis area in the national spotlight, with the footage serving as a symbol of cops gone wild.
But even lifelong St. Louisans might need a map and a magnifying glass to locate the hamlet that's giving law enforcement a black eye.
It's St. George. It's one-fifth of a square mile of small brick homes and condominiums — amid a sea of small brick homes and condominiums — at Interstate 55 and Reavis Barracks Road in south St. Louis County.
Like so many of the county's 91 municipalities, it's a subdivision with police power, and no shortage of it. For a tiny town and police force, St. George has had its share of police controversy.
It has drawn complaints for years that it is a speed trap. A police chief there 26 years ago was convicted of a mob hit.
And this week, a video from Brett Darrow, 20, became an Internet hit. Darrow pulled into a commuter lot off Interstate 55 — outside St. George's city limits — around 2 a.m. Friday, when Sgt. James Kuehnlein approached and asked him what he was doing.
When Darrow asked why, Kuehnlein launched into a series of taunts and threats.
A check of court records shows Kuehnlein himself pleaded guilty of assault and stealing in two different cases, in 1988 and 1990. He successfully petitioned a judge in St. Louis County in 1998 to expunge his criminal record, which was making it hard for him to get work as a cop.
The judge ordered those records sealed, as well as records of an acquittal for drunken driving and an assault arrest that did not result in charges.
St. George Police Chief Scott Uhrig earlier this week suspended Kuehnlein without pay while he investigates the case. On Wednesday, Kuehnlein hired attorney Travis L. Noble, a former police officer. He said he would review the unedited video today. RELATED LINKS
Lawyer for officer caught on tape says driver baits police
Officer in trouble over motorist's video in South County
Young man taunted by policeman wants officer fired
Police video from St. George
Uhrig said he has worked hard to cleanse the city of its image as a speed trap with a police department staffed by novices. But even he is not untouched by scandal.
Five years ago, an administrative commission upheld an accusation that Uhrig propositioned a 17-year-old girl for sex during a traffic stop in 2000, when he was an Arnold officer.
Chrystal Cole's civil rights lawsuit against Uhrig and the city went to mediation; the disposition was not made public.
Cole told investigators that Uhrig had her drive to an empty parking lot where he spoke of jail, petted her arm and face, told her she was "beautiful, hot, and tempting," and suggested a "quickie."
At the time, Uhrig denied ever seeing Cole that night, and said that she had fabricated the story out of malice over her previous contact with Arnold police.
The commission upheld Cole's accusation.
On Wednesday, Uhrig reacted angrily to questions about the case and repeatedly denied the accusation.
In an e-mailed statement, he said, "This incident that I was accused of seven years ago does not (have) anything to do with the current situation."
St. George has just under 1,300 people, but its police wrote about 3,000 tickets there in 2005.
To Gary Hardesty, a St. George resident for 39 years, his city is "a speed trap." To little benefit of residents, he said, officers camp out on the main thoroughfare, Reavis Barracks Road, and pull over drivers.
"If the officers had a good reputation and were qualified, they wouldn't work for this department," said Hardesty, 65.
Some who have gotten tickets might have wondered why St. George even exists. They can thank moms in two subdivisions, back in 1948, who wanted their kids bused to school. Bayless schools would not send buses. So the subdivisions incorporated as St. George, which allowed them to join Affton schools.
Police misconduct is an old story in St. George. In 1981, Chief Milton Russell Schepp worked with the so-called "Syrian underworld" to plant a bomb in a car driven by mobster Paul J. Leisure. Leisure survived the blast, and Schepp went to prison.
St. George Mayor Harold Goodman said earlier this week that the case of Brett Darrow was "an isolated incident." He did not return a call seeking comment Wednesday.
Paul Keene, a city alderman, said that although Kuehnlein shouldn't have lost his temper with Darrow, the city's police officers act appropriately.
If people think police issue too many tickets, they should slow down, he said. "They go 10 to 15 miles over the speed limit there, and they need to be corrected."
William C. Lhotka and Georgina Gustin of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
jkohler@post-dispatch.com | 314-340-8337
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