A jury acquitted a 27-year-old Ferguson man yesterday of a murder charge related to the killing of a bystander during an October 2021 shootout outside a bar in north city — a shootout that involved an off-duty police officer who now faces criminal charges of his own in an unrelated incident.
Rodregus Fuqua was paralyzed after being struck by a bullet in the shootout but found himself facing second-degree murder, assault and armed criminal action charges. The jury deadlocked on the other two charges and those were dismissed by prosecutors this morning.
"It was self-defense," says Michael Hufty, his attorney. "I'm just glad the jury got it right."
On the night of the shooting, Fuqua had been at the Other Place II Bar in the city’s St. Louis Place neighborhood with family, celebrating his mom's birthday.
At some point, he was kicked out of the bar, and he and his brother were beaten up. The incident escalated into a gunfight outside the bar, with security guard Michael Hill shooting at Fuqua, and Fuqua shooting back.
A 52-year-old bystander named Richard Young was struck by a stray bullet and succumbed to his injuries several months later.
Hufty described the situation as "a gunfight between this off-duty police officer and who knows who else, and Rod on the other side of the street."
At the time, Hill was an off-duty cop for the Northwoods Police Department. He and another Northwoods officer, Samuel Davis, have since been charged in St. Louis County with kidnapping a man outside a Walgreens who was then allegedly beaten by Davis at a "remote location" in Kinloch.
"It's kind of comical that the Circuit Attorney's Office thinks he's a hero and the county prosecutor thinks he's a criminal," Hufty says of Hill.
Hufty says the prosecutors in this case tried to argue, "We got a cop here. It's all good."
The jury was not allowed to hear details about Hill's pending kidnapping case.
This was actually the second time that Fuqua stood trial for this exact case. In October, a judge declared a mistrial in the case after it was revealed that prosecutors had not handed over pertinent evidence to Fuqua's defense until halfway through the trial.
Prior to the 2021 shootout, Fuqua had been a city bus driver. Hufty says he is now unlikely to ever walk again.
“The people who paralyzed Rod should have been prosecuted, not Rod,” Hufty says.
Fuqua's case is the third time in the last month that an individual was acquitted of murder in the city by arguing self-defense.
Rapper CTS Luh Wick was acquitted of a murder charge in late January. A week later, Kinard L. Wilson was acquitted of murder, too.
In both cases, the men had returned fire after being shot at by people high on meth.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this article stated that Fuqua was acquitted of all three charges against him. He was acquitted of murder. This morning, prosecutors dismissed the other two. We welcome tips and feedback. Email the author at [email protected]
or follow on Twitter at @RyanWKrull.
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