ST. LOUIS (AP) — A former St. Louis police officer has been sentenced to three years of probation for her role in the beating of a Black, undercover police officer during a 2017 protest.
Bailey Colletta was sentenced Thursday in federal court after pleading guilty nearly two years ago to making a false declaration to a grand jury, admitting she lied to the FBI and a federal grand jury in an effort to cover up the attack on Officer Luther Hall.
As part of her sentence, Colletta must serve two consecutive weekends in jail and undertake 200 hours of community service, drug testing and counseling.
Her sentence comes just days after her codefendant, former officer Randy Hays, was sentenced to more than four years in prison for his role in the beating. Prosecutors have said Colletta was only five months out of the police academy and romantically involved with Hays when she ordered Hall to the ground during a September 2017 protest, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
Colletta then watched as Hall was then tackled by other officers and beaten so severely that he later required multiple surgeries and was left with permanent damage, prosecutors said. She lied when she told investigators and the grand jury that Hall’s arrest had not been violent, prosecutors said.
Colletta and Hays were among four officers charged in the beating. Prosecutors said the officers mistakenly believed that Hall was participating in the protest that followed the acquittal of Jason Stockley, a white officer accused of killing a Black suspect.
Dustin Boone was found guilty in June of aiding and abetting the deprivation of the victim’s civil rights. His sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 15.
Christopher Myers still faces a charge of destruction of evidence related to the arrest. He was tried along with Boone but jurors could not reach a verdict on the charges.
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