St. Louis Police Officer Charged With Assault For 'Rough Ride'

ST. LOUIS, MO — Lori Wozniak, a 47-year-old St. Louis police officer, has been charged with two counts of misdemeanor assault after prosecutors say she injured two handcuffed men in the back of her police van by repeatedly slamming on her brakes. According to the Post-Dispatch, the so-called "rough ride" occurred on August 2. Wozniak was reportedly upset at the men, who had been arrested for petty vandalism, for making rude comments about her to each other.

According to charging documents, Wozniak told the men "she was going to stop hard at every stop sign between the scene and the station." And that's apparently what she did.

During one such stop, one prisoner hit his head against one of the van's metal benches, lacerating his eye. Wozniak lied about the incident, prosecutors said, telling investigators that she stopped hard to avoid hitting a dog, but the vehicle's cameras show that wasn't the case.

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Wozniak's sergeant filed a misconduct complaint about her shortly after the incident, and Wozniak was placed on desk duty, according to records obtained by the Post-Dispatch, but she wasn't charged until Thursday — more than two months later.

The Ethical Society of Police called for Wozniak to be charged and placed on forced leave after initial reports broke back in August.

Wozniak has been issued a criminal summons, but doesn't appear to have been arrested. A similar "rough ride" in Baltimore three years ago left 25-year-old Freddie Gray dead after he suffered spinal cord injuries in the back of a police van. Six officers were charged in Gray's death, but none were convicted, leading to widespread protests across the city.

Read more from the Post-Dispatch.

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