Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Meeting with Patricia Redington


Visit to Patricia Redington's Office

On Monday morning Michelle Moore and myself (both from the St Louis Tea Party Coalition) joined representatives from My Conservative Group and Campaign for Liberty at the St Louis County Government Building in Clayton. We were there to deliver petitions to County Counselor Patricia Redington expressing the concern of many conservatives that the charges brought against Kenneth Gladney's and Kelly Owens's assailants did not measure up to the crimes perpetrated against them on the night of August 6th. Kelly Owens joined us for our trip to the counselor's office.

Redington and her staff refused to meet with us while our video cameras were rolling. We agreed to record a statement (from 3:23 to 6:42 in the video above) before proceeding into the county counselor's office. As requested, I did not film the meeting; however, I did record the reactions of the group in the hallway afterward (starting at about 6:42 above).

During our conversation with Redington, I asked when she had received Kenneth Gladney's medical records. I had read that his medical records had not been reviewed, yet I had heard on the radio that Redington's office had seen the records. She told me that she had received them with the police report. I was left with the impression that it is common practice for medical records to be submitted as evidence along with police reports.

I'd like to thank Patricia Redington for meeting with us. I'm sure it altered her day. I hope an eleven month old crawling around her office provided some levity on a Monday morning—I was carrying the baby while filming, so the video is shaky in parts. Obviously, I wish Redington had allowed us to record the meeting because it was a bit of a civics lesson. I think I have a better understanding of the differences between ordinance violations, misdemeanors, and felonies as a result of that conversation. I'm not sure Gladney's and Owens's assailants were properly charged, but I could be convinced.

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