The city of Ladue has agreed to pay $2 million to settle a federal lawsuit filed by a woman who was shot in the back by a police officer last year.
On April 23, 2019, Ladue Police Officer Julia Crews shot 33-year-old Ashley N. Hall who was suspected of shoplifting at the Ladue Crossing Schnucks, police said.
There was a loud, boisterous scene inside the store as workers tried to keep the woman from leaving with items she didn’t pay for, witnesses said. She assaulted a worker who tried to help her after she fell in the parking lot, according to a news release from Schnucks.
She was later shot during a struggle with the officer as she resisted arrest, police said. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch says Crews was charged with second-degree assault after shooting Hall. Her attorney said she meant to use her taser but drew her gun instead. Crews resigned from the department.
According to STLToday.com, “in the confidential settlement agreement released Friday to the Post-Dispatch in response to an open records request, the city ‘denies it is liable in any way’ to Ashley N. Hall and does not admit wrongdoing.”
Hall sued Ladue, Police Chief Ken Andreski, and police crews in December, claiming that Crews used unjustified and excessive force against her. The settlement says lawyers and people involved cannot discuss its terms and does not hold the officers involved in the shooting responsible… Fox2 News