Brickbat: Brothers in Blue

A St. Louis jury has found former police officer Dustin Boone guilty of depriving Detective Luther Hall of his civil rights. Hall was working undercover during 2017 riots when other officers arrested and beat him. The same jury deadlocked on a charge of destruction of evidence against another police officer involved in that case. Three other officers charged in connection with the beating were found not guilty in March. One of the difficulties in the case was proving that the officers acted with malice. But in Boone's case, prosecutors introduced text messages that indicated he was eager to get physical with protesters. "[I]t's gonna be a lot of fun beating the hell out of these sh------s once the sun goes down and nobody can tell us apart!!!!" he wrote in one message. He also texted that he and another officer "just grab f----rs and toss em around." He also wrote, "Did everyone see the protesters getting F---ED UP in the galleria????? That was awesome."