A 32-year-old High Ridge man has been found guilty of a civil rights violation for his actions as a St. Ann Police detective during a 2019 arrest, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced.
On June 11, Ellis C. Brown III was found guilty of deprivation of civil rights under color of law following a three-day jury trial in the U.S. Eastern District Court of Missouri, according to a press release.
Brown, who was the head of St. Ann Police’s detective bureau when the incident occurred, was released on bond until his sentencing hearing, which is set for Sept. 15. He faces up to 10 years in prison, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
In April 2019, Brown was seen in surveillance video repeatedly kicking a victim who was lying on the parking lot of US Bank at the corner of Natural Bridge Avenue and Kingshighway Boulevard in St. Louis, the report said.
The incident followed a high-speed chase that began in north St. Louis County and ended in a car accident at the bank. Brown and other St. Ann Police officers pursued the victim during rush-hour traffic for more than 20 minutes, reaching speeds exceeding 115 mph, according to the press release.
Two St. Louis Police officers intervened and stopped Brown from continuing to kick the suspect following the chase, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
“Ellis Brown flagrantly abused the trust our community and his peers placed in him,” U.S. Attorney Sayler Flemming said in a written statement. “I hope Brown’s conviction serves as a deterrent for other in law enforcement who might think about abusing their power.”
The case was investigated by the FBI, and assistant U.S. Attorney Derek Wiseman handled the case.
“Ellis Brown exceeded his authority and used excessive force in securing the arrest of an already compliant subject,” said Richard Quinn, special agent in charge of the FBI St. Louis Division. “In doing so, he violated not only the law, but also his oath as a law enforcement officer.”
Brown left the St. Ann Police Department in August 2020. He began working there in February 2017, a month after leaving the St. Louis Police amid an investigation into his handling of a crash at a bank in the Central West End.
Brown and his partner were accused in state disciplinary records of failing to report the September 2016 crash or render aid when a driver they were tailing lost control of her car and hit a light pole, causing a fire that engulfed the vehicle.
The woman in the crash was not seriously injured, according to St. Louis Police.
Brown and his partner also were accused of later lying in reports to account for their time that night, according to disciplinary records from the Missouri Department of Public Safety.
He also was one of two officers involved in the 2014 shooting death of 25-year-old Kajieme Powell after they were called to investigate reports that Powell was stealing an energy drink and snacks from a market.
The St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office declined to charge either officer, finding they could argue a reasonable fear for their lives when Powell approached them with a knife.
Brown later drew attention when multiple criminal cases connected to his St. Louis Police investigations were thrown out of court. Lawyers found he had submitted nearly identical language on at least 19 search warrant applications. In each, he said a tip and stakeout indicated drug sales at a home.