ST. LOUIS (KMOX/AP) - A federal lawsuit filed on behalf of a homeless man who begs for money near I-55 and Lindbergh Blvd. has the St. Louis County Council scrambling to try to do something about its vagrancy ordinance.
The council deadlocked Tuesday night on a vote whether to repeal the ordinance, or rewrite it to allow police to still ticket "aggressive beggars." The plaintiff, Robert Fernandez, was issued some 40 tickets for holding a sign asking for money in South County.
His attorney, Beavis Schock says a county municipal judge has thrown out the tickets as "unconstitutional," and Schock has filed a federal lawsuit against the county seeking damages for Fernandez.
"(The judge) says any future tickets he gets are going to be dismissed," Schock says. "And they keep ticketing him and arresting him and we're going to ask the federal judge to award damages against the County for that very thing. Lay off!
"The law allows under the first amendment Mr. Fernandez to stand on the side of the road with a sign saying, 'Please give me money.' You can do that, this is America, he is poor."
Council Chairwoman Lisa Clancy says the county’s legal staff recommended that the council repeal the vagrancy ordinance. The measure defines a vagrant as a person “without visible means of support” and has been in effect in unincorporated areas of the county since 1965.
An edited version of the ordinance was introduced by Councilman Ernie Trakas, which would still empower police to ticket aggressive panhandlers who would cause “a reasonable person to fear bodily harm.”
The council voted 5-0 to table the matter for now.
Fernandez's case is set for trial in early April.