What They Didn't Tell You About the Off-Duty Cop Who Got Jumped on the Landing

At about 3 a.m. Sunday, an off-duty cop on the 100 block of Lucas Avenue (Laclede's Landing) observed some robust assholery: a guy, walking down the street, kicking and striking parked vehicles.

So the cop identifies himself and tries to detain him, but then a second douchebag appears and hits him on the head with a brick.

Then four other dudes swoop in and jump the cop, who thinks he spies one of them reaching for a weapon. So the cop fires his gun -- which apparently injured no one -- and the dudes scatter. 

Here's what the Post-Dispatch, KMOV (Channel 4) and KSDK (Channel 5) are all leaving out of the story:

The cop was a 33-year-old black officer in his fourth year, according to the SLMPD. The aggressors were white, and reportedly in their twenties.

Why do we have to bring up race? Because, you may recall, black St. Louisans were blamed last summer for making downtown's nightlife less safe, at venues such as Lure.

But as this episode shows, people from all colors and creeds become jerks when they drink. (We're not positive these guys were drunk, but the bars had just closed on the Landing, so we're willing to assume it).

Let us remember Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and what he might say: Judge not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their blood-alcohol.