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No One Answered 911, So St. Louis Moms Swung Into Action [VIDEO] | St. Louis Metro News | St. Louis

Published

2 years ago

September 22, 2023

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click to enlarge Screengrab from video A man accused of barreling into a bus with his truck was located in a Dumpster by security.

A pair of moms picking up their kids from school this week in Midtown St. Louis banded together with hospital security personnel to detain a man who’d barrelled his truck into a school bus, fled the scene and then hid in a Dumpster.

The scary scene played out outside Cardinal Ritter High School, and some of it was caught on video. A woman named Amy, who shared the video with the RFT but asked us not to use her last name, says that what upsets her most is how long it took for police to arrive on the scene, leaving the driver’s apprehension in the hands of two moms and hospital security for 45 minutes.

Amy says that a little before 3 p.m. on September 19 she was waiting to pick up her child at one of the schools near Cardinal Ritter in Midtown when a Ford truck careening down Grandel Square struck a school bus filled with students leaving the high school on North Spring Avenue.

Amy says that she saw a “flash in the corner of my eye” and then looked up just in time to witness the collision. Police have stated that the drivers of the truck and bus both “complained of injury,” but that no students were hurt.

Amy tells the RFT she saw the driver of the truck getting out of his vehicle, holding his head. She didn’t realize it at the time, but he was apparently about to take off on foot.

Amy says she initially drove about half a block away from the school, toward Grand Boulevard, as she expected the road in front of the high school to soon be blocked off with the emergency crews she assumed would arrive in short order.

Then, Amy says, “I hear somebody yell. ‘He’s running! He’s running!’ and I see him run in front of my car.”

“I thought someone should at least follow him to track where he goes,” she says. She says she followed the man in her car to an alley by the Urban League building, about half a block away from Cardinal Ritter near the Veteran Affairs Hospital. She started calling 911 — but no one picked up.

Another mom who was in the area to pick up her child from Cardinal Ritter seemingly had the same idea as Amy. The two moms found themselves in pursuit mode, Amy says, combing the area around the Urban League building.

“Did you see him?” Amy says the other mom shouted to her.

“No, I didn’t see him,” Amy replied.

Amy says she was looking for the driver in the stairwells behind the building when security personnel from the nearby VA Hospital showed up to see what all the commotion was about. “He’s either in the bushes or the Dumpsters,” Amy told them.

The VA security guards indeed found the man in a Dumpster, hiding out. At this point, after twice calling 911 and twice getting only a recorded message, Amy gave up on calling and started using her phone to record video. (You can see short excerpts from what she recorded below.)

“911 is a joke,” she says.

Security personnel from the VA kept the man cornered until the police arrived. However, Amy says that they explained to her that they couldn’t actually detain him, as they didn’t have the authority. Amy’s video shows them coaxing him out of the Dumpster and then pinning him to the ground after he tumbles over its lip, yelling, “Don’t kill me.”

As Amy’s camera rolls, someone shouts, “Where are the police at?”

At one point, the security agents administer Narcan to the suspect. As Amy continues filming, she tracks how long it has taken the police to arrive. Twenty minutes turns into 30 minutes. In lieu of the police, someone suggests they call Fox 2 reporter Elliott Davis.

Amy says it ultimately took 45 minutes for the police to arrive, a delay she says is inexcusable given that a bus filled with children had just been involved in a collision and that the injuries might have been much worse.

“What I saw — and there are other parents that saw, too — is that no ambulance came to these kids’ aid for 45 minutes,” she says.

After public outcry over long wait times for emergency services, the city gave police dispatchers a big raise in June. However, the Post-Dispatch reported earlier this week that the SLMPD dispatch center is operating with about two-thirds the number of people they are authorized to employ.
Sergeant Charles Wall with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department tells the RFT that they started getting calls about Tuesday’s accident at 2:52 p.m. An officer was dispatched 27 minutes later, he says, and “arrived on the scene shortly after.”

The driver was eventually arrested by SLMPD and, according to Wall, was taken to an area hospital. However, the driver apparently didn’t stay in custody for long.

According to Wall, the alleged driver “left the area hospital prior to officers arriving at the hospital.” Wall adds that he is actively being sought at this time for leaving the scene of an accident.

“The investigation is ongoing,” Wall says.This story has been updated.

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Fenton Man Charged in Sword Attack on Roommate

Published

1 year 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

1 year 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

1 year 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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