Hidden Video Police Officer Beating Man with Baton and Pepper Spray


A St. Louis police officer was captured on video striking a man repeatedly with a baton and spraying him with pepper spray in the early hours of New Year’s Day, has been pulled off the streets Tuesday. The owner of the gas station, at 1815 Arsenal Street, identified the officer as Dustin Ries, whom he said was working off-duty for him. The owner, Joel Platke, said Officer Ries had worked for several years at the station providing security out of the substation. Police added that no one filed a complaint about the incident and that there were no arrest reports. The department first heard about the video Tuesday morning, after media outlets began asking about it. Ries, 37, of Chesterfield, could not be reached for comment. His attorney, John Bouhasin, declined to comment because of the ongoing internal affairs investigation. Ries has previously been named in two lawsuits accusing him of excessive force. A 2008 federal suit alleged that Ries assaulted two men with his police baton and pepper spray while he was working off-duty at the Big Bang piano bar on Laclede’s Landing in April 2006. Al Johnson, a Clayton attorney for the plaintiffs, said his clients were initially charged with assault but the charges were later dropped. The lawsuit was settled out of court, and Johnson said he was barred from disclosing the amount. “I’m glad he got caught this time, maybe enough to where the police department can fire him,” Johnson said of Ries. A 2005 civil suit in St. Louis alleged