No charges in fatal Pine Lawn police shooting

PINE LAWN, Mo. -- St. Louis County prosecutor Bob McCulloch has ruled a man's fatal shooting by a Pine Lawn police officer appeared to be justified and "not excessive under the circumstances."

Officer Nicholas Stone shot Christopher Maurice Jones, 30, of Bel-Ridge, Missouri, after Jones fled from an early morning Interstate 70 traffic stop in July. An evidence synopsis released with McCulloch's ruling said during the pursuit, Jones was driving as fast as 114 mph before he crashed on an exit ramp and ran away, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Tuesday.

The report said Jones resisted several attempts by Stone to put him in handcuffs, including three stun-gun discharges. An autopsy determined Jones was shot once, with the bullet entering his chest cavity and striking his heart after first hitting his right arm.

The shooting happened just over one month before the Aug. 9 death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. In both cases, the police officer was white and the victims were unarmed and black. In the Brown case, a grand jury is expected to decide this month whether charges will be filed against Ferguson officer Darren Wilson.

According to prosecutors, Stone saw an empty holster in the center console of Jones' wrecked car before giving chase on foot.

Jones, who was 6-foot-2 and weighed 240 pounds, "was substantially larger in frame and stature than Stone," the synopsis said.

The Pine Lawn officer told investigators Jones threatened to kill him and reached into his waistband with his right hand and raised his shirt with his left. Stone drew his weapon and yelled "Show me your hands" at least three times, the synopsis said.

Stone, believing Jones had drawn a firearm, "discharged his weapon one time," the report said. Investigators were unable to find an independent witness to the shooting, according to the report. They also never found a weapon.

Nor was there video evidence from a dashboard camera, despite a 2012 agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice that Pine Lawn make "reasonable effort" to secure funding for in-car video cameras to provide "an unbiased account of events."

That agreement was precipitated by complaints about police misconduct and racial profiling, the newspaper reported. Anthony D. Gray, director of public safety for Pine Lawn, has said that the department is still evaluating whether to add cameras.

Two of Jones' friends told St. Louis County police detectives he had been "heavily intoxicated" and "increasingly combative" at a small Independence Day party. Jones had a 0.17 percent blood-alcohol level, more than twice the legal limit to drive, and had marijuana in his system, according to the synopsis.

Jones' mother, Christa Jones of Bel-Ridge, said authorities had not notified her of McCulloch's findings before a reporter sought comment.

"Of course they were going to say justifiable homicide," she said. "But how do you justify killing somebody, a human being?"