Two brothers are vindicated after they were falsely accused and arrested for robbing a white man

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Two St. Louis brothers credit their mother for pressing police to look at surveillance video that proved their innocence and kept them out of jail.

Christopher and Jerry Tate believe that if their mother hadn’t insisted that the police look at the surveillance video, they would be in jail for an attempted robbery they didn’t commit.

The actual culprit, Patrick John Owens, 29, pulled a gun on the two Black men in August demanding they give him their wallets.

Rather than comply, the Tate brothers wrestled with Owens, who shot Christopher in the hand and face.

“I was on top of him when he shot me,” Christopher Tate said, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “When he fired the gun the bullet hit the bone in my hand. It went through my right jaw. If I had not put my hand out it probably would have blown my entire face off.”

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All three ran after the gunshot. The brothers admitted that they hid the gun because they were afraid they would be targeted for being armed.

Unafraid of the consequences, Owens called police for help and lied by saying that he had been attacked by the brothers. He claimed to have pulled his gun out in self-defense but lost it in the fray.

And that’s the version of events that police initially believed.

“I believe they listened to him because he was white,” Christopher said.

Video proves them right

A mother knows her children. The brother’s mom insisted to police that there had to be surveillance footage all around the area where the incident took place. Sure enough, the video proved that her sons were telling the truth. If police had not viewed the footage, the Dates believe they would both be in jail now.

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On Wednesday, Owens was finally charged for the incident and is now facing charges of attempted robbery, armed criminal action and second-degree assault, all felonies, on top of making a false report.

While the Tates are glad Owens is finally being charged for what he did, they’re still upset that it took six months for the police to sort out the truth.