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St. Louis Man Died Because Ambulance Idled, Lawsuit Says | St. Louis

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click to enlarge Courtesy Matt Devoti Rodney LaRue was killed after being struck by a car in September 2021.

On September 27, 2021, Rodney LaRue was hit by a car while crossing the street on his motorized scooter. LaRue, 60, was at Arsenal Street and Ivanhoe Avenue in the Lindenwood Park neighborhood when the car crashed into him, causing injuries to his side and his kidneys that would ultimately prove fatal.

A St. Louis police officer happened to witness the crash and immediately called for an ambulance. One was dispatched to the scene within two minutes, a quick turnaround time that is not always a given.

However, despite the collision scene being just four miles from Barnes Jewish Hospital, it took the ambulance half an hour to get there.

That delay is now the subject of a lawsuit filed last week by LaRue’s sister, Sharon LaRue. That lawsuit, which is seeking damages from the city, says that the ambulance stopped on Kingshighway for almost half an hour after someone threw a rock at it near the intersection of Magnolia Avenue and Kingshighway near Tower Grove Park.

“That’s problematic,” says Matthew Devoti, the attorney for LaRue. “This crew knows they’re going to the scene of a car crash, they know it involves a vehicle and a moped or a motorcycle. They pulled their ambulance out of service because somebody threw a rock.”

Devoti says that it is still unclear what exactly transpired between the EMT crew and the rock thrower during the almost 30 minutes after the ambulance was struck by the rock and before it resumed its journey. But he says he knows that the rock caused only a dent in the ambulance and there was no reason, mechanically speaking, it couldn’t have made it to the scene.

Devoti says that the city should have also had better plan in place, so that another ambulance would be dispatched once the one hit by the rock stopped driving.

click to enlarge Courtesy Matt Devoti LaRue is remembered as a “brother, friend, and gentle soul.”

“We have an issue with, if there is some mechanical issue with the ambulance – and let me be clear, we don’t think there is – but if they believe so, then call for backup,” Devoti says.

At Arsenal and Ivanhoe, the lawsuit says that firefighters provided medical care to LaRue and an ambulance did eventually take him to Barnes. But by then it was too late.

According to his obituary, Rodney LaRue is remembered as a “brother, friend, and gentle soul. He was a blues music enthusiast, a man dedicated to his family and his cat.”

“That 29 to 34 minutes meant his life,” Devoti says. “If he gets to Barnes Hospital promptly and he gets under the care of a trauma surgeon and that trauma surgeon is able to deal with his injuries, then Rodney is here with us today. We do believe it made a significant difference, literally between life and death.”

The woman driving the car who hit LaRue was charged with involuntary manslaughter. After viewing video of the collision, a judge dismissed the case in June 2022. An appeal is currently in front of the state Supreme Court.

We welcome tips and feedback. Email the author at [email protected] or follow on Twitter at @RyanWKrull. Subscribe to Riverfront Times newsletters.Follow us: Apple News |  Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Or sign up for our RSS Feed

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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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