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St. Louis Man Shot by Police Is Suffering Medical Neglect in Jail, Family Says | St. Louis

Published

9 months ago

January 4, 2024

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click to enlarge Jordan Cohen A CJC detainee shows a large hernia that his family says went long-untreated in the jail.

A St. Louis man who earlier this year was shot six times by police is now languishing neglected in the city justice center, his family said in court today.

“No family should have to live like this,” said Caitlin O’Shaughnessy, whose brother Kevin has been diagnosed with schizophrenia and has been in the City Justice Center since June. She says that during his six months in jail he hasn’t had access to clean clothes, has gone without a shower and brushing his teeth for months, and has not had his hand bandages changed. Caitlin and her brother’s attorney, Jordan Cohen, shared with the media a photo of O’Shaughnessy in the city jail with an untreated hernia that had swelled to the size of a cantaloupe.

O’Shaughnessy, 31, entered the city jail after what Cohen says was an attempt to commit suicide by cop.

In April, O’Shaughnessy was at a house in the Ellendale neighborhood when police say he brandished a rifle and began threatening a man and a woman in the house with him. The man grabbed an ax in self-defense, and O’Shaughnessy went downstairs and fired a shot up through the first floor. The two others in the house then fled.

When a SWAT team arrived, O’Shaughnessy pointed the rifle from a second story window. Police opened fire, hitting O’Shaughnessy six times, including once in the head. He fell from the window to the ground, suffering multiple wounds and a traumatic brain injury.

He is charged with multiple counts of assault and armed criminal action. Police say he also tried to burn the house down.

In June, after leaving the hospital, he was booked in the city jail.

There, his family told St. Louis Circuit Court Judge Katherine Fowler at a bond hearing today, he has been medically neglected. They said that the jail lost his wheelchair and failed to administer antibiotics.

At one point, O’Shaughnessy developed a hernia, minor at first, but it went untreated until it was cantaloupe size “or larger.” An attorney who took a photo of the untreated hernia later had his phone privileges at the jail revoked for doing so, the family said.

“How did that go unnoticed?” Caitlin said of the sizable protrusion.

O’Shaughnessy did eventually get hernia surgery, but his family says that was only because they raised a fuss with jail administration about it.

Caitlin and mother Susan pleaded with Fowler to allow O’Shaughnessy to be released. They asked he be allowed on home detention or, failing that, to be anywhere other than the city jail.

But Fowler was uneager to release O’Shaughnessy to his family. “I’m deeply concerned he’ll be a threat to himself,” she said, referring to his previous attempt to end his own life via the police.

After deliberating on the matter for a few moments, Fowler ordered O’Shaughnessy transferred to BJC Hospital. He will be evaluated to determine whether or not he is fit for incarceration at the city jail and, if not, where he can reside as he awaits trial. Fowler mentioned both St. Louis County Jail and the jail in St. Charles as possible alternatives.

Susan O’Shaughnessy, Kevin’s mother, tells the RFT that she knows her son isn’t the only one whose medical needs aren’t being met in the jail. When she has visited him in the medical unit in the past, she says she’s seen other detainees banging on the glass of the infirmary, trying to get someone to pay attention.

Leaving the hearing, Susan wondered aloud why the jail calls it “the infirmary” if there’s no medical care to be had there.

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Fenton Man Charged in Sword Attack on Roommate

Published

5 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

5 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

5 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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