From [HERE] A white suburban St. Louis police officer who shot a Black woman suspected of shoplifting will have assault charges against her dropped, a decision reached Monday after the victim and the ex-officer participated in a mediation session together, the Associated Press reported.

Julia Crews, 39, shot Ashley Fountain Hall on April 23, 2019, after Hall was accused of stealing from a local grocery store in Ladue, Missouri. Hall and another woman were accused of taking a grocery cart full of steaks and seafood without paying and assaulting a grocery worker. The store workers followed the women outside and kept them in the parking lot until police arrived.

Crews arrived at the scene and said she intended to deploy her taser to restrain Hall but mistakenly pulled out her service firearm instead, and shot Hall in the back. Crews resigned after the shooting incident.

Hall asked for the dismissal of charges against Crews after the process known as restorative justice mediation that took place on November 5.

"This was a unique opportunity where the defendant immediately realized she had made a terrible mistake in shooting the victim, and both the defendant and victim reached places where they could see a resolution for this incident outside of the criminal justice process," Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell said in a news release.

Bell's office said Crews and Hall agreed to participate in restorative justice mediation conducted through a videoconference. In the restorative justice process, the victim and the offender work together toward a resolution, typically with the help of a facilitator.

In this case, the volunteer facilitator was Seema Gajwani, chief of the Restorative Justice Program for District of Columbia Attorney General Karl Racine. Bell and Lisa Jones, his office's manager of victim services, also participated.

Last year, the city of Ladue agreed to pay $2 million to settle Hall's lawsuit. The suit said Hall tried to break away from police in fear prompted by the history of Black people who aren't armed "being shot by white officers." The city admitted no wrongdoing in the confidential settlement.