Police officer accused of assaulting customer who tried to steal from Walgreens while working as security guard

By Matt Woods

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    ST. LOUIS (KMOV) — A Northwoods police officer was suspended from the department after an incident at a Walgreens last week while he was working department-approved secondary as a security guard in St. Louis city.

An incident report from the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department alleges a customer at the Walgreens in the 1500 block of Lafayette was attempting to steal from the store when the officer assaulted him. The officer has not been charged by the St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office as of the publishing of this article.

SLMPD said in the report that the preliminary investigation showed the officer assaulted the customer after he attempted to steal something from the store. The customer was allowed to leave the store before SLMPD officers responded to the incident, the report said.

Northwoods Police Chief Colonel Dennis Shireff said the department would not comment on the matter until an investigation is complete. Shireff emphasized that the officer was not on the clock at the Northwoods Police Department when the alleged incident happened.

The Northwoods officer, who First Alert 4 is not naming at this time because he has not been formally charged with a crime, had been working the approved secondary employment for just over a year, Shireff said.

Two other Northwoods police officers were charged in July with kidnapping, beating and using pepper spray on a man. Both officers have court appearances in October, Missouri court records show.

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