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A St. Louis County Driver Struck Me and My Son. We Need Change — Now | St. Louis Metro News | St. Louis

Published

2 years ago

March 10, 2023

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click to enlarge KARL MITCHELL The author’s bakfiets can hold a pup or a child — but after getting struck twice by cars, he’s learned to be extremely wary of St. Louis drivers.

“What the fuck are you doing?” I screamed at the driver as I jumped off my bike. Running to stand in the lane, blocking my son who had just been knocked out of our cargo bike by the impact, I was trying to balance my anger and my protective instincts. In that instant, my 11-year-old was hurt, and I was going into papa penguin mode, checking him over for injuries, putting my own body as a shield to keep him from further harm.

I’ve lived everywhere from tiny towns to West Coast metropolises, biking thousands of miles in each. However, I have only ever been hit by drivers in St. Louis — once while cycling by myself near the boundary of Creve Coeur and Chesterfield, and now with my son, in the middle of Creve Coeur. It is not until I write this that I make the Creve Coeur connection — or that it strikes me that both happened on Olive Boulevard.

At one point, after living here for only about a year or two, my family bought me a knockoff GoPro camera to mount on my bike. I never had any misconceptions that it might save me. However, at the very least, the idea was to have a way to seek justice if I ever was harmed. Unfortunately, even that illusion was soon busted. I caught several incidents on video of drivers harassing or otherwise being dangerous. I turned each into the police, who then said they wouldn’t take any action based on the videos. The only benefit they ever proved was when the police themselves harassed me, giving me a ticket for obstructing traffic, despite a “Share the Road” sign. Thankfully, a bike-friendly lawyer helped get the ticket thrown out, and a councilmember assisted with strengthening county bike laws.

Suffice to say, I do my best to be hypervigilant of my surroundings while on my bike, especially with my son. I prefer to bike in the lane, where my presence can be seen (though I recognize this is part privilege as a tall, white male). Yet there are times, such as that recent Saturday afternoon, and places, such as Olive and its 35-mph-or-more traffic, that I would rather not be, again, especially with my son.

This combination of what seem to be very realistic fears is what led me to utilize the sidewalk that day. Rolling along and talking to my son at a leisurely 10 mph, we felt safe, separated from the traffic, even if only by a six-inch curb. Unfortunately, we were about to learn that sense of safety was misplaced.

Because it hit us — quite literally. A car (thankfully, considering the murderously large trucks and SUVs now too common) T-boned our bike as we were passing the entrance/exit of Trader Joe’s. Even though it was low speed, the force of the impact was enough to launch my son out of the box (our bike is one of those Dutch-designed bakfiets, which hold cargo or kids in the front) into the road — the road we were trying to avoid at that moment. The road we were not in, because we were attempting to avoid the threat of being hit by a multi-ton vehicle such as that.

I am thankful for Urban Arrow’s design protecting my boy. The frame and foam absorbed the impact, as well as jammed under the car’s bumper, preventing it from running him over. I am thankful the driver hadn’t accidentally accelerated with cars passing, as that surely would have had a drastically different result.

But I am also deeply shaken — and disappointed. I am disappointed that I, a cyclist who pedals approximately 5,000 miles a year, am still afraid in this town. And if I’m afraid, so is the St. Louisan who wants to bike or walk more, whether for commuting, errands, fitness or fun, or the local kid who needs to get to school or a friend’s house.

People yell at me to get in the bike lane where there isn’t one or on the sidewalk where that’s illegal. (In instances where the sidewalk truly is the least-dangerous option for a stretch, I’m then yelled at for being there.) And despite the St. Louis County law that was strengthened a few years ago, I don’t feel safer, by any means. We need driver education, enforcement, increased investment in infrastructure and more. Hell — if you want me off the roads, how about a reversal of the damaging public-transit service reductions in our region over the past few years?

Perhaps it is fitting that the name of the municipality where I have now been hit twice means “broken heart,” while the road where it happened both times is named for the olive, the branch of which is known as a symbol of peace and unity. While I am saddened by the traffic violence experienced by my family and so many others as the injuries and deaths continue to pile up, I am hopeful that we can still change. Maybe it won’t be an Amsterdam-level of change, but at least enough change that we can truly share the road, so that everyone, everywhere, can safely get where they want, how they want.

It shouldn’t take the violent tragedies of the past several years and especially the last several weeks to convince our regional leadership, and all of us, that this is a crisis that must be addressed. But I am seeing people start to come together amid the grief and anger in new ways. And as a cyclist just out there commuting to work and trying to protect my child, I am begging our leaders for continued attention to this matter.

The RFT welcomes well-reasoned essays on topics of local interest. Contact Rosalind Early at [email protected] if you’ve got something to say.

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Fenton Man Charged in Sword Attack on Roommate

Published

8 months ago

May 22, 2024

Natural Bridge

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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.

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

Published

8 months ago

May 22, 2024

Natural Bridge

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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.”

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St. Louis to Develop First Citywide Transportation Plan in Decades

Published

8 months ago

May 21, 2024

Natural Bridge

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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.”

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