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St. Louis suburb settles ‘debtors’ prison’ lawsuit
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(AP) – One St. Louis surburb will pay $3.25 million to settle a so-called debtors’ prison lawsuit over allegations that thousands of people were unconstitutionally jailed and forced to pay fines and fees that provided millions of dollars for the town’s coffers.
The town of Maplewood agreed last week to the settlement of the federal class-action lawsuit. Maplewood was among several St. Louis County towns whose policing and court practices fell under scrutiny after the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown in nearby Ferguson in 2014.
The Maplewood lawsuit, filed in 2016, alleges unlawful policing and economic injustice. The settlement money will be distributed among more than 7,000 people who were jailed and more than 20,000 who paid fines and fees from Nov. 1, 2011, through Nov. 18, 2021.
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The suit accuses Maplewood of routinely violating constitutional rights through a “predatory scheme” of unconstitutional jailing, often for minor traffic offenses, to extract fines and fees.
“This resulted in poor people, and mostly Black people, who were jailed for days at a time until Maplewood had extorted as much money as possible from them,” Nathaniel Carroll of the civil rights law firm ArchCity Defenders said in a statement.
One plaintiff, Frank Williams, a 56-year-old Black man, was ticketed and jailed for more than two weeks for failing to provide insurance identification. The lawsuit says Williams had been jailed more than 10 times in various St. Louis County municipalities, all for minor municipal code violations.
Maplewood police issued nearly 85,000 tickets from 2011 through 2021, generating $6.4 million in revenue, the law firm said. But since the lawsuit was filed, municipal court revenue has dropped by nearly two-thirds and the number of tickets issued has declined 70%, the firm said.
Messages left Tuesday with Maplewood’s mayor and city manager were not immediately returned.
The settlement is the latest in several similar lawsuits in the St. Louis area in the years since Brown’s death. The Black teenager was fatally shot by white Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson on Aug. 9, 2014. Wilson was not charged, but the shooting led to months of protests and prompted a Department of Justice investigation.
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The federal agency in 2015 accused Ferguson of racially biased policing and using excessive fines and court fees. A year later, Ferguson and the Justice Department reached an agreement that required sweeping reforms.
The investigation in Ferguson raised concerns about policing and municipal court practices in other St. Louis County towns, spurring several class-action lawsuits. ArchCity Defenders said that in previous settlements, Jennings paid $4.75 million, Normandy paid $1.3 million, and Edmundson paid $370,000. Lawsuits are still pending against Ferguson and two nearby towns — St. Ann and Florissant.
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JEFFERSON COUNTY, Mo. – Two people are behind bars after a man reportedly attacked a Jefferson County deputy with a screwdriver during an attempted arrest over the weekend.
Prosecutors have charged Nicholas Davis, 47, and Amanda Davis, 45, of Dittmer, Missouri, with felonies in the investigation.
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The alleged attack followed a traffic stop of a driver in the 9500 block of Jones Creek Road on July 7, though the driver was not Nicholas or Amanda.
According to court documents obtained by FOX 2, Nicholas reportedly came out of his nearby home, yelled at a deputy and started approaching him while holding a screwdriver. The deputy initially ordered Nicholas to back away, then used pepper spray.
Per court documents, the deputy attempted to arrest Nicholas, who then struck him in the chest with the screwdriver. Amanda reportedly approached the deputy and pulled him away from Nicholas before both ran inside their home.
The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office says the situation prompted an hours-long standoff involving negotiators, a SWAT team and a K-9 deputy. The situation led to Nicholas refusing warnings and being bitten by a K-9.
Nicholas and Amanda are both jailed in the Jefferson County Jail without bond. Nicholas is charged with first-degree assault on a special victim and armed criminal action. Amanda is charged with resisting/interfering with arrest.
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ST. LOUIS — The new St. Louis schools superintendent will be officially sworn into office today. Dr. Keisha Scarlett took over the job in July after the retirement of Dr. Kelvin Adams. She was assistant superintendent in the Seattle Public School District. The installation ceremony is at 6:15 p.m. before the regular school board meeting.
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ST. LOUIS — A gasoline tanker truck crashed into a Metro transit center near Riverview and Hall Streets early Tuesday morning and knocked over a power pole. The pole is leaning on other power lines. Police have the area blocked off here because there is a downed power line. Ameren and Metro crews are also on the scene.
The incident happened around 12:30 a.m. It’s still unclear exactly what caused the crash, but we do that there was a second vehicle somehow involved. The airbags on that second vehicle did deploy.
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Police at the scene have not been able to give us a lot of details. Metro officials tell FOX 2 that the transit center here is operating this morning for passengers and buses. Access to certain areas will be limited here as clean up unfolds.
A Metro spokesperson says half of the station isn’t being used right now because of safety issues. It isn’t impacting overall bus operations, everything is just happening on the other side of transit center.
The extent of the damage to the actual transit center is still unclear, but I’m told it does not appear to be extreme. A Metro spokesperson tells me there were no injuries to any metro workers or passengers. The tanker driver also was not injured.
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