ST. LOUIS (AP) — The St. Louis police officer charged with killing a female colleague while playing a Russian roulette-style game is accused in a police disciplinary document of drinking on duty.
Police on Thursday provided The Associated Press with a copy of an internal police misconduct report against Officer Nathaniel Hendren and his co-worker, Patrick Riordan. It alleges that the officers consumed alcoholic beverages while on duty at the time of Officer Katlyn Alix’s death, in violation of department policy. The document also alleged that Hendren “recklessly discharged a firearm resulting in the death of another Officer.”
Hendren is charged with involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal action in the Jan. 24 shooting. Prosecutors say Hendren and Alix were playing a deadly game of pointing a gun with one bullet at each other and pulling the trigger when Alix was killed.
Riordan has not been charged with a crime.
A message seeking comment from Hendren’s attorney was not immediately returned. Riordan’s attorney, James Towey, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that Riordan told investigators he had a “few sips of a beer,” but a breath test came up “all zeroes.”
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3 p.m.
The St. Louis circuit attorney’s criticism of how police investigated a male officer’s Russian roulette-style fatal shooting of a female colleague has drawn an angry response from Police Chief John Hayden.
Hayden, speaking at a news conference on Thursday, raised his voice and pounded his fist in responding to a letter from Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner. Her letter Monday to Hayden and Public Safety Director Jimmie Edwards questioned whether police tried to block drug and alcohol testing of two male officers after the shooting.
The male officers were on-duty but for unexplained reasons, they were at one of their apartments in the early hours of Jan. 24. Officer Katlyn Alix, who was off-duty, was there, too.
Prosecutors say Officer Nathaniel Hendren and Alix were playing a deadly game of pointing a gun with one bullet at each other and pulling the trigger when Alix was killed.
Hayden says Gardner’s allegations were “unwarranted, certainly untimely and absolutely irresponsible.”
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1:45 p.m.
A St. Louis police officer accused of playing a deadly variation of Russian roulette that killed a female colleague is now free on bond, but with stipulations that keep him homebound and without access to firearms.
Officer Nathaniel Hendren is charged with involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal action in the Jan. 24 death of Officer Katlyn Alix. Hendren was freed after posting bond Thursday, shortly after a judge agreed to a change that required Hendren to post only $10,000. He was originally held on $50,000 bond.
Charging documents say Hendren and Alix were taking turns pointing a gun loaded with one bullet at each other and pulling the trigger. Twice the gun didn’t fire, but the third time, charging documents say, Hendren pulled the trigger and shot Alix.
