Local News
Paralyzed Jail Detainee Was Left for Days in His Own Feces, Lawyer Says

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The attorney for a paralyzed detainee in the troubled St. Louis City Justice Center found him lying in his own feces yesterday, denied access to a toilet and the use of both adult diapers and toilet paper, she says. The attorney, Susan McGraugh, snapped a photo of the troubling scene she encountered.
The photo is of Lamarr Pearson, a 35-year-old who was arrested Friday on first-degree assault charges. Pearson has been paralyzed for several years and does not have control over his bowels, McGraugh says. He soiled himself in a holdover cell at the jail, a transitional area for detainees after they have been arrested but before they have been fully processed into the jail.
McGraugh says her client was not only denied access to a shower to clean himself, but no one helped him back into his chair. He is incapable of getting himself back into his wheelchair, McGraugh says. Pearson told her he’d been lying in such a condition for two to three days.
The photo of Pearson is the latest example of visual evidence showing the bleak conditions in the city jail that activists and attorneys, not to mention jail detainees, say are commonplace. In January, an attorney shared a photo of detainee named Kevin O’Shaughnessy, from whose stomach protruded an untreated hernia that had swelled to the size of a cantaloupe. As a result of that photo going public, the jail banned attorneys from bringing phones into the facility. Also, last summer, lawyers with ArchCity defenders released a plethora of videos showing what attorneys said is the wanton use of pepper spray by correctional staff. The jail was forced to turn over those videos as part of an ongoing civil lawsuit in federal court.
McGraugh’s fellow attorney at Saint Louis University School of Law, Brendan Roediger, tells the RFT that he thinks Pearson has grounds to file a civil suit against the jail, but adds, “The most important thing right now is for him to be OK.”
Pearson told McGraugh he believes he may have an open wound caused by a bedsore on one of his buttocks. He worries that this combined with his soiled state may lead to a staph infection.
When Pearson asked for something to wipe himself off with, a deputy told him to use the plastic wrap that a sandwich in Pearson’s vicinity had been wrapped in. “Sometimes we have to improvise,” McGraugh says her client was told.
Pearson had a bond hearing yesterday in front of Judge Catherine Dierker. No jail staff or deputy would escort him to the hearing, so he appeared via video. McGraugh says she showed both Dierker and the prosecutor the photo of Pearson, yet Judge Dierker ordered Pearson to remain in custody.
Pearson is accused of shooting a man on Friday in the Gate District. A witness said that she heard Pearson and the victim arguing followed by gunshots and saw Pearson in his wheelchair “advancing” toward the man he wounded. The extent of the victim’s injuries is unknown, though they weren’t fatal.
Reached for comment, Department of Public Safety spokesman Monte Chambers tells the RFT that jail staff perform regular checks on all detainees, “with particular attention to those undergoing detoxification from prior drug addictions.”
“Since Detainee Pearson was admitted to the City Justice Center, he has undergone medical examinations and has been equipped with the necessary medical support for his condition,” Chambers adds.
Pearson has two convictions for felony unlawful use of a weapon, in 2010 and 2011. He’s had other convictions since then, including for property damage and a federal charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
He is due back in court for a second bond hearing Monday.
McGraugh says that she went back to check on Pearson Tuesday morning and, no longer in a holdover cell, he’d been moved to a medical unit at the jail.
“I spoke with one of the sheriff supervisors who informed me that the jail has been using these holdover cells as sleeper cells because they are so crowded, which is not what the cells are for,” she says.
McGraugh says that she’s aware of a detainee currently in the jail who has been denied medication for seizure and another who, after attempting suicide in the jail, was unable to access medication for his mental health issues.
“We have had judges sign orders [telling the] Justice Center to provide healthcare to our clients,” McGraugh says. “Those orders have been routinely ignored.”
In the case of O’Shaughnessy, he tried to commit suicide by cop in April 2023, only to end up in the city jail with the cantaloupe-sized hernia. His sister, mother, and lawyer argued at a January hearing he ought to be let out of jail awaiting trial. They cited his medical neglect and untreated mental health issues.
Judge Katherine Fowler said she wasn’t going to let a man accused of shooting at police out on bond. But she did order him transferred to BJC Hospital, where he was to be evaluated as to whether he was fit to remain at the City Justice Center. Fowler mentioned both St. Louis County Jail and the jail in St. Charles as possible alternatives where O’Shaughnessy could await his date in court.
Three months later, jail records show O’Shaughnessy still locked up in the city jail as of yesterday.
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Fenton Man Charged in Sword Attack on Roommate

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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

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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

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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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