Multimillion-dollar verdict handed down in St. Louis police shooting lawsuit

Summary

• St. Louis jury awarded $37 million in police shooting case.
• Officers found liable for assault, malicious prosecution, false imprisonment.
• Plaintiff was shot at age 14 during police pursuit in Walnut Park.
• Verdict included $30 million in punitive damages.

More than a decade after a police shooting involving a 14-year-old, a St. Louis City Circuit Court jury awarded millions of dollars in damages.

The $37 million verdict was handed down March 27 in the case of Tyron Edwards v. City of St. Louis et al.

The case goes back to 2016, when Edwards was 14. According to trial testimony and the circuit court, Edwards was shot in the back by city police officers Thomas Streckfuss and Ryan Murphy on Oct. 2, 2016, in the neighborhood of Walnut Park. The police were pursuing a stolen vehicle which apparently stopped beside a group of teenagers, including Edwards. Edwards ran from police who ultimately both fired at him; the bullet went through his body leaving two wounds from where it entered his back and exited his chest. The officers testified Edwards had a pistol and shot at them.

Edwards was jailed for two months and had an additional 10 months of home confinement before the charges against him were dropped in 2017. The ballistic evidence at the later trial showed Edwards was shot in the back, and the alleged gun he had did not show signs of being recently fired.

The case was tried before Judge Joseph Whyte. The plaintiff was represented by Jack Waldron, James Wyrsch, Javad Khazaeli, Brendan Roediger and Leah Fessler of Khazaeli Wyrsch in St. Louis, and Jerryl Christmas. The defendants were represented by Nic Taulbee and Lauren Kessler of the Missouri Attorney General’s Office, as the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department switched to state control in 2025.

According to Waldron, there had been some negotiations on the last day of trial with the city’s attorneys, as the city is still paying judgments and settlements in some prior cases. Negotiations did not take place with the attorneys from the attorney general’s office. The city made a final offer of $1.5 million, while Waldron said they countered with a $7.5 million final offer. Of the final verdict, $7 million was for compensatory damages and $30 million for punitive damages.

“It was a very odd case in that it was old … Essentially what happened is two police officers were finishing a police chase, and they happened to see our client and start chasing him,” Waldron said. “And there was no connection at all between him and the police chase. They basically saw a black kid in Walnut Park and started chasing him.”

The trial lasted five days. Jurors found the officers liable for claims of assault, malicious prosecution and false imprisonment. They were not found liable for battery.

“We were all very grateful to the jury for the verdict, and we thought it was a … very good verdict, and our client was relieved that after basically a decade of people believing the police’s story, a jury sat and listened to the facts,” said Waldron. “I think he did feel a tremendous sense that that justice had finally happened. And I think it only happened because he was actually able to tell his story … When you listen to the facts, and you listen to what the expert said … I think it was pretty clear what happened that day, and that was that the officer shot a kid in the back and then covered it up.”

The verdict is possibly one of the largest for a non-fatal police shooting in Missouri. Another multimillion verdict was reached in St. Louis City Circuit Court in March of last year for the fatal police shooting of Mansur Ball-Bey by the metropolitan police department; attorneys from Khazaeli Wyrsch including Waldron also represented the plaintiff in that case.

“I think that it is important to note that 12 citizens of the city of St. Louis listened to … testimony in the case, and they chose to listen to the evidence and found that two police officers stories were not true,” Waldron said of the Edwards verdict. “Instead of the words of our client (were true) and I think that’s one of the importance of the jury system, is that finally the jury was able to hear the story of what happened and make a decision.”

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Personal Injury

Amount of verdict: $37 million

Type of action: Other personal injury; assault battery, malicious prosecution, false arrest

Allocation of Fault: Join liability against defendants

Breakdown: $7 million in compensatory damages, $30 million in punitive damages

Venue: St. Louis City Circuit Court

Case Number/Date: 2322-CC00264/March 27, 2026

Judge: Joseph Whyte

Injuries: Back, spine, emotional, psychological, other (Shot in back, arrested as a 14-year-old, incarcerated for two months, 10 months of house arrest)

Caption: Tyron Edwards v. City of St. Louis et al

Plaintiffs’ Attorneys: Jack Waldron, James Wyrsch, Javad Khazaeli, Brendan Roediger and Leah Fessler, Khazaeli Wyrsch, St. Louis; and Jerryl Christmas

Defendants’ Attorneys: Nic Taulbee and Lauren Kessler, Missouri Attorney General’s Office