3 allege excessive force in their lawsuit over arrest
By Robert Patrick, Post-Dispatch
07/23/2005

Three people sued an East Prairie, Mo., police officer, the department and the police chief this week in federal court in St. Louis, claiming excessive force, assault and false imprisonment after the officer allegedly fired 11 shots into a moving car.

The suit, filed by Mississippi County residents Bryan Jackson, Brandi Evans and Corey Caery, says Officer Brian K. Bickford fired into their car on March 27 after a low-speed car chase.

According to the suit, Bickford pulled Jackson over for an unknown reason. Jackson stopped briefly, then drove away slowly. Bickford followed Jackson's car into a cul-de-sac, where he shot at the men, striking Jackson in the shoulder and Caery in the leg, the suit says.

Darren Cann, Mississippi County prosecuting attorney, described the events differently in a telephone interview Friday afternoon.

Cann said that during the initial traffic stop, Jackson backed into Bickford's car. Bickford then followed Jackson into the cul-de-sac, where Bickford got out of his patrol vehicle, Cann said. Bickford fired when Jackson drove the car at him, Cann said. The car hit Bickford, but he was not injured, Cann said.

Cann said Jackson was briefly hospitalized. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of resisting arrest and traffic charges, including driving while intoxicated and driving without a valid license, Cann said, and got probation. In exchange, prosecutors dropped charges of assaulting a law enforcement officer.

Jackson was in the hospital for no longer than a day, Cann said. Cann was not aware that Caery had been shot.

Cann said the Missouri Highway Patrol investigated the shooting and determined it was justified.

Bickford and East Prairie Police Chief Danny Lafferty could not be reached Friday. City Administrator Kathie Simpkins said no one in the city had seen the suit. Simpkins said the suit would be turned over to the city's insurance company to handle. The suit seeks more than $25,000.