Local News

Corrections Officer Charged in Beating Previously Led Training on Mace | St. Louis Metro News | St. Louis

Published

2 years ago

August 11, 2023

[ad_1]

click to enlarge Arch City Defenders Screengrab of jail surveillance video released by Arch City Defenders.

A St. Louis corrections officer recently charged in federal court with assaulting a handcuffed detainee was previously tasked with training other jail staff on the use of mace, court filings show.

Federal prosecutors announced the civil rights charges against Direll Alexander in June, alleging that three months prior, the lieutenant “assaulted and injured the detainee while he was restrained in handcuffs and while he did not pose any threat to Alexander.” Alexander pleaded not guilty at his initial appearance in court that same month.

Then, late last month, attorneys representing current and former jail detainees in an ongoing civil lawsuit against the city released a trove of depositions, reports and surveillance videos gathered as part of their suit. The class-action lawsuit against the city focuses on the overuse — and misuse — of mace in the St. Louis City Justice Center.

click to enlarge Corrections Officer Direll Alexander speaking at a city Public Safety Committee meeting last year.

Among those filings were portions of a deposition of Alexander taken in July 2022. At the time Alexander worked in “safety and training” at the jail, court filings show. He stated that he had conducted training on the “use of OC spray” and “riot control” as recently as the past six months.

The attorneys representing the detainees call Alexander being tasked to train corrections officers in the use of mace “egregious,” because in 2016 jail leadership suspended him “for use of OC spray against a detainee.”

“People in leadership are aware of this happening, but they’re not doing anything about it,” says Shubra Ohri, an attorney with the MacArthur Justice Center and one of the lawyers representing the detainees in their suit against the city.

The city’s department of public safety confirms that Alexander is still employed as a correctional officer at the jail. A spokesperson added that the department would not comment on the indictment and that employee disciplinary records are closed.

The use of mace in the city jail has long been a source of controversy. Surveillance videos and use-of-force reports made public last month as part of the lawsuit against the city detail corrections officers using mace in seemingly every possible scenario, from the violent to the banal: a detainee swinging a chair at a guard; a detainee turning his back to an officer; a detainee refusing to shower; a detainee requesting an internal complaint form.

“There’s just sort of an understanding that they use [pepper] spray in this way that is systemic,” says Ohri. “I want to be careful here, because it’s not just about one or two officers, it’s a whole culture.”

In 2021, the RFT reported that, according to the jail’s own policies, pepper spray is only to be deployed as a last resort to stop a threat. In his deposition, Alexander was asked about jail staff using a “continuum of force,” a concept in policing and corrections that refers to officers using the appropriate level of force in any given set of circumstances and then either escalating or de-escalating as circumstances change.

Alexander answered, “A continuum, no. There’s not a continuum. Again, there is only the preferred steps, but they are just preferred. They are what people would like to see. They are not necessarily the reality.”

[ad_2]

Source link

Local News

Fenton Man Charged in Sword Attack on Roommate

Published

1 year ago

May 22, 2024

Natural Bridge

[ad_1]

A warrant is out for a Fenton man’s arrest after he allegedly attacked his roommate with a sword.

Police say that on Sunday, Angelus Scott spoke openly about “slicing his roommate’s head” before he grabbed a sword, raised it up and then swung it down at the roommate.

The roommate grabbed Scott’s hand in time to prevent injury. When police arrived at the scene, they found the weapon used in the assault.

The sword in question was a katana, which is a Japanese sword recognizable for its curved blade.

This isn’t the first time a samurai-style sword has been used to violent effect in St. Louis. In 2018, a man hearing voices slaughtered his ex-boyfriend with a samurai sword. His mother said he suffered from schizoaffective disorder.

As for Scott, 35, the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office was charged yesterday with two felonies, assault first degree and armed criminal action. The warrant for his arrest says he is to be held on $200,000 bond.

[ad_2]

Source link

Local News

Caught on Video, Sheriff Says He’s Ready to ‘Turn It All Over’ to Deputy

Published

1 year ago

May 22, 2024

Natural Bridge

[ad_1]

Video of St. Louis Sheriff Vernon Betts taken by a former deputy suggests that the sheriff has a successor in mind to hand the reins of the department over to, even as Betts is in an increasingly heated campaign for reelection.

“I ain’t here for all this rigmarole,” Betts says in the video while seated behind his desk at the Carnahan Courthouse. “The Lord sent me here to turn this department around and I’m doing the best I can and I think I’ve done a good job. I’ve got about eight months and I’m going to qualify for my fourth pension.”

He goes on, “Right now I can walk up out of here and live happily ever after and forget about all this…and live like a king.”

The sheriff then says his wife has been in Atlanta looking at houses and that the other deputy in the room, Donald Hawkins, is someone Betts has been training “to turn it all over to him.”

Asked about the video, Betts tells the RFT, “My future plans are to win reelection on August 6th by a wide margin and to continue my mission as the top elected law enforcement official to make St. Louis safer and stronger. Serving the people of St. Louis with integrity, honor and professional law enforcement qualifications is a sacred responsibility, and I intend to complete that mission.”

The video of Betts was taken by Barbara Chavers, who retired from the sheriff’s office in 2016 after 24 years of service. Chavers now works security at Schnucks at Grand and Gravois. Betts’ brother Howard works security there, too.

Chavers tells the RFT that she was summoned to Betts’ office last week after Betts’ brother made the sheriff aware that she was supporting Montgomery. It was no secret: Chavers had filmed a Facebook live video in which she said she was supporting Betts’ opponent Alfred Montgomery in the election this fall. “Make the judges safe,” she says in the video, standing in front of a large Montgomery sign on Gravois Avenue. “They need a sheriff who is going to make their courtrooms safe.”

In his office, even as Chavers made clear she was filming him, Betts told Chavers he was “flabbergasted” and “stunned” she was supporting Montgomery.

“I don’t know what I did that would make you go against the preacher man,” he says, referring to himself. He then refers to Montgomery as “ungodly.”

Betts goes on to say that not long ago, he was walking in his neighborhood on St. Louis Avenue near 20th Street when suddenly Montgomery pulled up in his car and, according to Betts, shouted, “You motherfucker, you this, you that. You’re taking my signs down.”

Montgomery tells the RFT that he’s never interacted with Betts outside of candidate forums and neighborhood meetings.

“I don’t think anyone with good sense would do something like that to a sitting sheriff,” Montgomery says.

Montgomery has had campaign signs missing and on at least two occasions has obtained video of people tearing them down. (Chavers notes that the sign that she filmed her original Facebook video in front of is itself now missing.)

One man who lives near Columbus Square says that he recently put out two Montgomery signs, which later went missing. “If they keep taking them, I’ll keep putting them up,” he said.

Betts says he has nothing to do with the missing signs. In the video Chavers filmed in Betts’ office, Betts says that his campaign isn’t in a spot where it needs to resort to tearing down opponents’ signs.

“If you sit here long enough, a man is getting ready to come across the street from City Hall bringing me $500, today,” Betts says. “I’m getting that kind of support. I don’t need to tear down signs.”

[ad_2]

Source link

Local News

St. Louis to Develop First Citywide Transportation Plan in Decades

Published

1 year ago

May 21, 2024

Natural Bridge

[ad_1]

The City of St. Louis is working to develop its first citywide mobility plan in decades, Mayor Tishaura Jones’ office announced Tuesday. This plan seeks to make it easier for everyone — drivers, pedestrians, bikers and public transit users — to safely commute within the city.

The plan will bring together other city projects like the Brickline Greenway, Future64, the MetroLink Green Line, and more, “while establishing new priorities for a safer, more efficient and better-maintained transportation network across the City,” according to the release.

The key elements in the plan will be public engagement, the development of a safety action plan, future infrastructure priorities and transportation network mapping, according to Jones’ office.

The overarching goals are to create a vision for citywide mobility, plan a mixture of short and long-term mobility projects and to develop improved communication tools with the public to receive transportation updates. In recent years, both people who use public transit and cyclists have been outspoken about the difficulties — and dangers — of navigating St. Louis streets, citing both cuts to public transit and traffic violence.

To garner public input and participation for the plan, Jones’ office said there will be community meetings, focus groups and a survey for residents to share their concerns. The city will also be establishing a Community Advisory Committee. Those interested in learning more should check out at tmp-stl.com/

“Everyone deserves to feel safe when getting around St. Louis, whether they’re driving, biking, walking or taking public transit,” Jones said in a news release. “Creating a comprehensive transportation and mobility plan allows us to make intentional and strategic investments so that moving around St. Louis for jobs, education, and entertainment becomes easier, safer and more enjoyable.”

[ad_2]

Source link