A Missouri cop is suing the St. Louis Police Department and the city, claiming he wasn't promoted to Police Chief because he is white.
Lieutenant Colonel Lawrence O'Toole claims that Public Safety Director Jimmie Edwards blamed the missed opportunity on a white cop who shot dead a black man in 2011 and sparked protests after he was found not guilty of first-degree murder in September 2017.
The current Police Chief John Hayden is black and Edwards – who is also African American – allegedly told O'Toole about the officer who killed Anthony Lamar Smith: 'If Jason Stockley didn't happen you would be the police chief.'
O'Toole was made interim police chief when Sam Dotson suddenly retired in April 2017.
O'Toole has also been criticized for saying the police 'owned' the protests in September 2017 and for wrongly claiming that an off-duty cop shot in friendly fire had exchanged fire.
