The FBI today entered the case of a man who was beaten by four police officers Monday after leading police on a high-speed chase from Maplewood into north St. Louis.

Roland Corvington, the special agent in charge of the St. Louis office of the FBI, said that the criminal investigation was begun into possible violations of the civil rights of the suspect, Edmon Burns, 33, of north St. Louis County.

He said the FBI routinely responds to such allegations. Any information that is found will be sent to the U.S. attorney and the Justice Department for review.

Three police officers from Maplewood and one from St. Louis punched and kicked a suspect lying on the ground Monday as TV helicopter cameras delivered vivid pictures to viewers - and tough questions to department chiefs.

"Please tell us we didn't really see what we saw," the Rev. B.T. Rice, chairman of the St. Louis County NAACP's police affairs committee, said hours later.

By day's end, Maplewood police got the Missouri Highway Patrol to investigate its officers' conduct, and St. Louis internal affairs investigators were opening a file on their agency's participant.

The event carried racial overtones as the suspect is black and the Maplewood officers are white. The St. Louis officer who joined them is black.

Maplewood Police Chief Jim White said it was apparent that force was used, but not yet clear whether that level of force was justified. Responding to suggestions of racial bias, he said: "Our police department would not do that type of thing."

Chet Pleban, a lawyer who represents the Maplewood officers, warned against rushing to judgment until the circumstances are clearer.

More than a dozen blows can be seen after the suspect was pushed to the ground, the TV pictures showed, but it was not clear the extent to which the man resisted. White said one officer suffered a broken wrist, one a separated shoulder and one a soft-tissue injury. All were treated at a hospital and released.

The suspect was identified as Edmon Burns, 33, of north St. Louis County. He was treated at the scene by paramedics, and left with his head bandaged. He was already wanted on criminal charges, and held later Monday at the St. Louis Justice Center.

No new charges were filed Monday.

The events started at 7:01 a.m., when someone called police to report a "suspicious vehicle" at a QuikTrip convenience store on Big Bend Boulevard, White said. Burns was driving a GMC van. An officer ran a computer check on its license plates and the tag number was not on file with the state.

When officers approached the van, it drove off and they pursued.

Several times during the chase, Burns tried to run the pursuing police cars off the road and at one point struck a Maplewood patrol car, White said. Driving on Kingshighway and Martin Luther King Drive during the morning rush, he and police passed lines of cars in heavy traffic and several school buses.

Eventually, a Maplewood police car bumped the van into a slow-speed spin, but the van backed away from officers who approached on foot. Other officers boxed the van in with their cars along Florissant Avenue at Pleasant Street, near Grand Avenue, and pursued the man on foot.

TV pictures show Maplewood police pushing Burns against a wall and then to the ground. All three officers can be seen punching and kicking. Then a fourth officer comes up and kicks him. After a few seconds, police put him on his feet and walk him to waiting patrol cars.

The events lasted about 20 minutes. Police said no weapon was found on Burns or in his vehicle.

Maplewood police are permitted to chase vehicles if they think the "immediate danger to the officer and the public created by the pursuit is less than the immediate or potential danger to the public should the suspect remain at large," according to the department policy. They are prohibited from chasing if the pursuit is, or becomes, more dangerous than the suspect.

White said he did not know what justified the chase because the department's report was not complete. He said that is part of what the Highway Patrol will examine.

St. Louis Police Chief Joe Mokwa said chasing a car for no other reason than an officer's suspicion "would be a violation of our (pursuit) policy. If that had happened here, we would quickly cancel the pursuit." However, he said, he had no control over what suburban officers do within the city limits.

Mokwa did not comment after it became known that one of the officers was from his department. Sources identified him as Officer Ray Knight from the city's 9th District. Knight, 43, has been an officer for five years and is black. He is now under investigation by the Internal Affairs Unit.

A man who answered the telephone at Knight's home number said he couldn't discuss the arrest. "I can't talk about that, man," he said. "Naw, no comment. I wasn't actually involved."

The identities of the Maplewood officers were not revealed. White said all were put on paid medical leave.

Ina Boone, of the county NAACP chapter, called the suburbs the "new hot spot" for police misconduct against blacks. She and other civil rights activists urged a full investigation.

Pleban, the lawyer, who has represented other police in high profile cases, said, "When you resist arrest, violence ensues." He added, "We fully expect they will be exonerated."

Burns has run from police before.

On June 15, 2003, county Officer Matthew Martin stopped Burns for speeding on Dunnideer Drive, near Chambers and Halls Ferry roads in north St. Louis County. Martin arrested him on a warrant for felony criminal nonsupport of his daughter, but the handcuffed suspect ran and was later captured.

Burns was then charged with escape, a felony, and misdemeanor theft, for taking the handcuffs. He pleaded guilty on July 2, 2004, to those charges plus the nonsupport.

Prosecutors alleged that Burns had failed to pay child support for his daughter for all of 2002. In his divorce in 1999 from her mother, a judge had ordered payments of $112.60 every two weeks. Court records show that by March 4, 2003, he owed $11,372.60.

As part of the plea deal, Burns was to pay current and back child support, and to keep full-time employment. He got 10 days in jail and five years on probation. But Burns violated his probation last year and was back in court.

As part of an updated agreement, Burns was to continue on probation until July 1, 2009. He was ordered to make payments beginning Jan. 15 of $400 a month in child support. Of that, $244 would be for current support and $156 for arrears.

Meanwhile, court records show Burns has been and continues to be the subject of adult abuse orders.

On Nov. 22, 2003, a girlfriend alleged that Burns was "hitting, grabbing, saying he is going to kill me. He has brought drugs, guns into my house. . . . He threatens to kill me," The couple had been living in Riverview and a judge issued an order for Burns to stay away. The order was dissolved at the request of the girlfriend a month later.

The same woman filed another adult abuse complaint last year on behalf of her teenage daughter. At the time, they had been living with Burns at an address on Maple Avenue in Maplewood and he was working at an auto service center in Sunset Hills. The woman alleged that Burns had tried to hug and kiss her daughter and had stalked her.

Judge John R. Essner approved an order appointing a guardian for the teenager, barring Burns from any contact with her and banishing him from the Maplewood apartment. Burns agreed to the terms of the order that expire on Oct. 25. Copies of it went to Maplewood police.

Court records show that Burns has lived in Maplewood, Riverview, north St. Louis County, St. Charles and Kinloch in the past decade. Those addresses appear on the circuit court cases and on some traffic violations to which Burns pleaded guilty.