Last Thursday morning, not long after store opening, a 68-year-old woman was walking into the Straub's grocery in the Central West End when she noticed a man tampering with her vehicle. She backed away and called 911.
He noticed her phone call and moved across the parking lot to intervene. The man -- who was 328 lbs., according to a Department of Corrections listing -- rushed toward the grandmother, threw her to the ground, and began kicking her in the head repeatedly.
The man grabbed the woman's cell phone, which had been knocked out of her hands. A stranger jumped in to get his foot off of her head. She ran inside the store. The man chased. He followed and harassed the victim and those who'd helped her. When employees asked him to stop and leave, he wrestled with one worker and punched another several times.
The victim was taken to the hospital for medical attention.
CIRCUIT ATTORNEY ORDERED TO NOTIFY VICTIM
The victim, lying in the hospital, wanted to know if she should continue to be afraid for her safety. Her attorney, Scott Sherman, says he found the question of whether the suspect had been arrested and if he was being held or not difficult to answer. He needed the suspect's name or a case number.
"We have done everything but beg the Circuit Attorney's victim advocate to just call us back," Sherman says. "We've called them four times, we've sent them letters they've received, we've even had our client on the phone for one of those calls, and they won't talk to us.
"It has been dismissive and kind of smug. It's like we're bothering them."
He eventually got the suspect's name through other means and looked him up on the state's Case Net database. There, Sherman found the suspect had already had a bond hearing scheduled for March 6th at noon.
The judge's order says the court "directs the circuit attorney to notify any victims of this hearing." Sherman says the office's single, substantive contact with him or the victim herself did not impart either a suspect name or number.
"Just the plain decency of giving her the name of the person that could have killed her, and definitely tried to hurt her, is the only job of that victim advocate office and one of them of the Circuit Attorney's office."
'IN A MANIC STATE' IN THE MIDDLE OF KINGSHIGHWAY
On Thursday, February 23rd, St. Louis police officers responding to the victim's 911 call found the suspect, 59-year-old John Wesley White, Jr., standing in the middle of the six lanes of Kingshighway Blvd.
"The defendant appeared to be in a manic state," reads the probable cause statement. White allegedly hit one officer and "after an extensive physical struggle and the use of a taser" the suspect was apprehended.
White is on parole after being sentenced to 25 years for second-degree murder. The Missouri Department of Corrections makes parole decisions.
White is currently charged with four counts of assault, including two special victims, an elderly person and a law enforcement officer, as well as robbery, and resisting arrest. He is being held -- no bond allowed.
WHY DID IT TAKE A TIP?
The Central West End around Straub's is one of the densest, most pedestrian-friendly spots in the region. Narrow Maryland Plaza is lined with shops, restaurants, and other attractions. Many homes are also in the vicinity.
KMOX News asked St. Louis police communications staff at their weekly Wednesday briefing why this daytime attack wasn't disclosed in any of the department's daily incident summaries provided to local newsrooms.
"Normally, our incident summary includes the 'part one' crimes. So, that's the shootings, cuttings, homicides, fatal or critical accidents, or robbery 'first' incidents. In [the Central West End] situation, there was no gun displayed," a spokeswoman said, adding that hands were the only weapon.
"Gun or no gun; if a murderer body-slams a 70-year-old woman and they know about it, they should have told everybody about this," attorney Sherman says. "This is as serious a crime, against an elderly woman, a resident of the city of St. Louis her whole life, a grandmother, as there is."
KMOX legal analyst Brad Young says multiple agencies involved in this situation have the obligation to be forthcoming and transparent with both the people directly impacted and the general public.
"We have the police, who are actively taking the position that they're not going to release information that should be released," Young says. "We also have the Circuit Attorney's office that has refused to identify the name of the suspect [to the victim]. In this instance, it's not merely incompetence, but this is a willful decision to not release information."
Once the suspect is charged, the police report and charging documents become public information -- if you have a suspect name or case number with which to search for them on the state's Case Net.
THE VIDEO IS "COMPLETELY SHOCKING"
After recent questions about the number of regular police officers assigned to Downtown, KMOX asked Central West End Neighborhood Security Initiative Executive Director Jim Whyte about the schedule of patrols there.
"At any given time, there would be two on-duty police officers working, patrolling the Central West End," Whyte tells KMOX, "but, that doesn't take into account the supplemental patrols the taxing districts we represent fund. [Those officers] are also available to respond to emergencies."
How many additional officers does the special taxing district allow for? "During the day, we might have one to two [more] officers working, sometimes at night it's usually a few more, three to four as we get closer to the weekend."
He says he's seen part of surveillance video which captured the incident.
"They were trying to get him out of the store and several displays were knocked over," he describes. "The behavior is just completely shocking ... the sheer physical, violent response he had to others trying to intervene and keep him away from that woman.
Whyte says it looked, on the video, as if this was either a substance abuse or mental illness situation. Either way, he said, "I can imagine it's very traumatic for the store employees." KMOX has asked if Straub's would consider releasing this video to the public.
Sherman says neither he nor the victim have seen the video yet.
One employee asked to remain anonymous. He told KMOX there have been several events recently, including a man who ran naked through the store while throwing wine bottles, and more violent incidents as well. He says workers are hoping security is expanded beyond current, post-dusk hours.
The NSI's Jim Whyte says he has spoken with the parole officer of the defendant, John White.
"He's been out for several months and his behavior just got more and more erratic," Whyte says. "This is what happens when we have instances where, again, either substance abuse problems or mental health problems are untreated and unchecked, they tend to lash out at society, and this poor woman, going on about her day, became the victim of that. It's tragic."