St. Louis Officer Under Investigation for Calls to Activist's Employer

St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department Internal Affairs is investigating an officer who reportedly called a woman's employer to discuss her involvement in Ferguson protests.

Leigh Maibes recorded a phone conversation with Officer Keith Novara on a YouTube video in which she questions why he called her boss regarding her involvement and Twitter posts about police tactics used during protests.

Novara responds that he was giving the broker a "heads up" because he is a south St. Louis business owner, and communicating with them is part of his responsibilities as a South Patrol officer. Novara can then be heard saying that he was warning Maibes' boss that the phones at the business might be "blowing up," from people upset about Maibes' tweets.

Maibes says in the video that beside Novara, her boss only received one phone call from a woman that complained. 

The St. Louis Police Officers Association released a statement in response to allegations that Novara tried to "intimidate a local activist," the St. Louis Post-Dispatch  reports.

The union's business manager Jeff Roorda said it has hired an attorney specializing in First Amendment rights to represent Novara.