Second St. Louis-area police officer charged in connection with attack

CLAYTON, Mo. -- A second police officer from a suburban St. Louis department is now facing charges after a man was allegedly driven to a secluded spot and beaten until his jaw broke.

St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell on Wednesday announced his office charged Northwoods, Missouri, police officer Michael Hill, 51, with second-degree kidnapping. Hill is jailed on $100,000 cash-only bond and doesn't have a listed attorney.

On Monday, Northwoods officer Samuel Davis, 26, was charged with assault and kidnapping, stemming from an arrest July 4. St. Louis County police said Davis handcuffed a man, then turned off his own body camera before driving him to a secluded spot, where the man was allegedly pepper-sprayed, beaten with a baton and told not to return to Northwoods.

A witness called 911 after finding the bloodied man. Police said the victim's jaw was broken, among other serious injuries.

The probable-cause statement in Hill's arrest said he was Davis' supervising officer and was with Davis when the man was taken into custody at a Walgreens store. The statement said Hill told a store employee "what would happen to the victim."

Like Davis, Hill did not activate his body camera, did not inform the dispatcher a suspect was in custody and didn't write a report, the probable-cause statement said.

"There is no excuse for this criminal conduct, and my office will prosecute these officers to the fullest extent of the law," Bell said in a statement.

Northwoods police Chief Dennis Shireff told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that Davis has been suspended as the investigation plays out.