Fired officer charged with shoving, choking prisoner

PEVELY, Mo. – A fired suburban St. Louis police officer who is accused of shoving and choking a prisoner inside a booking area has been charged with a misdemeanour.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Jefferson County Prosecutor Trisha Stefanski issued a fourth-degree assault summons Monday for 28-year-old Robert Watson, who was a Pevely police corporal. He doesn’t have a listed phone number.

Stefanski says she didn’t file a felony charge because the prisoner didn’t seek medical attention, and authorities couldn’t prove he was injured. She says she is a “huge supporter of law enforcement” but added “this was unprofessional, and there was a crime committed.”

Watson was fired last week, along with another officer seen on video sitting at a desk in the booking area on April 23 during the alleged assault.

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Information from: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, http://www.stltoday.com