McCloskey Case: St Louis Police Detective Refused to Sign Prosecutor's Biased Probable Cause Statement

The lead St. Louis police detective investigating the McCloskey case refused to sign at least two versions of court documents prosecutors drafted, according to a review of those documents obtained by 5 On Your Side.

In addition, police contend at least one person in the crowd was armed and another was wearing a bullet-resistant vest, after analyzing videos taken June 28, when the couple confronted protesters with guns.

[...] The documents obtained by 5 On Your Side include an email Gardner's Assistant Circuit Attorney Chris Hinckley sent to the lead investigator on the case, Sgt. Curtis Burgdorf. Hinckley emailed police the day before the McCloskeys were served with a search warrant, stating it needed to happen "now."

"At this point, everything points to these weapons being real and loaded, but no one has asked or confirmed," he wrote. "Come trial, they'll say they were waiving around a BB gun and an air rifle."

[...] [Burgdorf] noted in follow up reports that at least one of the protesters was armed with a handgun, and another was wearing a bullet-resistant vest with the words, "Human Shield" on it.

Some of the phrases he was able to decipher from the footage collected by prosecutors from protesters included:

"You own a business. Your business is gone."

"We coming back baby."

"You ain't the only (expletive) with a gun."

"They coming back to your house."

In another livestream video, Burgdorf wrote a man was heard saying, "I was in front so I was the one who opened the gate. The gate was broken after they pulled a gun. What law did we break? We keep guns there but not for show though. Not to look a certain way, but for use. If they would've shot then they would've been put down."

The only thing Burgdorf wrote from what he could hear from the McCloskeys included Patricia McCloskey shouting "Go," as she pointed her gun at demonstrators.

A News 4 investigation has found that St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner has been flying all around the country and the globe with organizations who want to reform the criminal justice system.

However, it appears she has violated the law, by not reporting the trips.

Sources tell News 4 Gardner is a frequent flyer. At times during her tenure as prosecutor, sources say, she has often been gone from her office a couple of times every month, jetting around on someone else's dime.

Social media snaps show Gardner posing for pictures in Portugal, listening to conversations in New Haven, Connecticut, smiling with other prosecutors in Houston and linking arms in Selma, Alabama.

They are trips she apparently took in 2018 and 2019, but did not disclose on travel reports, as required by law.

Sources tell News 4 that some of the trips were paid for in full, or in part, by an organization called Fair and Just Prosecution, a group that professes to support progressive prosecutors. The organization has repeatedly applauded many of Gardner's actions, including the charges against Mark and Patricia McCloskey for brandishing guns in the Central West End last month.