Lack of alert concerns students
Several students awoke to the sound of gunshots on the morning of Monday, April 4, when a Department of Public Safety and Security Services officer fired three shots at a suspicious vehicle fleeing the former-Iggy’s restaurant parking lot.
Laclede House resident junior Erin Everett was one of the students woken up by this incident since her bedroom faces Laclede Avenue.
“I think it was pretty shocking; you don’t expect to hear gunshots in your own home where you feel safe,” Everett said. “I am a very heavy sleeper, and I was just trying to figure out what happened after I heard the shots.”
At 2:39 a.m., the DPSSS officer was patrolling westbound on Laclede in a mobile unit when he observed a navy blue Chevy Trailblazer double-parked in the Iggy’s lot facing south toward Laclede Avenue. The officer got out of his vehicle to investigate when he observed a 16-18 year old African-American male running between two parked cars into the driver’s side of the Trailblazer.
Another suspect was in the vehicle, and according to Assistant Director of Field Operations for DPSSS Kenneth Hornak, the suspect drove toward the DPSSS officer bumping against his leg seven times, forcing him to back up into the middle of Laclede Avenue. The officer had his .38 caliber revolver drawn and shouted to the suspects to halt.
The suspects revved the engine, and the officer responded by firing three shots at the vehicle, shattering the rear window.
“I support the officer’s decision to draw his weapon,” Hornak said. “The vehicle was not the target, the driver of that vehicle was the target.”
The suspects drove east towards Grand Boulevard and are still at large. According to Hornak, the driver of the vehicle is wanted for assault in the first degree. Though the suspects have not yet been apprehended, no safety alert was issued to the Saint Louis University community and some students are anxious about not being informed about the incident.
“I felt very uneasy that DPSSS didn’t send out an alert; I feel like more information about it would have helped me feel safer,” Laclede House resident Brittany Calendo said.
Public Affairs Officer and Sergeant Pasquale Signorino said that no alert was released because “it was no longer of any immediate threat to the SLU community.”
According to DPSSS policy, campus safety alert notices are usually disseminated for the following FBI Uniform Crime Report/National Incident-Based Reporting system classifications: Arson, criminal homicide, sex offenses, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary and hate crimes.
DPSSS policy also outlines the terms for the firearms carried by individual officers. Each DPSSS officer has a .38 caliber firearm licensed by the Honorable Board of Police Commissioners for the City of St. Louis. Each officer must qualify at a shooting range twice a year to keep this license.
DPSSS has several policies in place for the use of deadly force. According to the official policy, “deadly force may only be used when it is reasonably necessary to protect oneself or another from serious bodily injury. Deadly force may never be used in the sole defense of property.”
“I think the officer didn’t need to use that sort of force, especially when students live that close,” Calendo said. “Would it have really been that hard for him to get out of the way?”
Student • Apr 13, 2011 at 4:31 pm
Why exactly is the article describing the driver and passenger as “suspects” before they had “bumped” the leg of the officer? What were they suspected of doing, being black in Saint Louis at night?
Charlie Hall • Apr 10, 2011 at 1:26 am
“The suspect drove toward the DPSSS officer bumping against his leg seven times.”
Let me get this straight: a security officer sees a double-parked vehicle and determines that this parking violation requires drawing his .38 caliber pistol. A man enters the car and the driver tries to exit the parking lot. The officer blocks the exit, for no apparent reason, weapon drawn. Somehow, the car “bumps the officer’s leg seven times” (this demands an explanation, how does his even happen? The officer stands in place while the car goes back and forth, hitting the officer’s leg seven times!?)
There’s no evidence of criminal behavior except for the officer pointing a gun at an innocent person. Rather than let the driver leave the parking lot, since he’s done nothing wrong, the officer physically blocks the exit and then blasts out the car’s back windshield with three gunshots, intending to KILL the driver, not stop the car. All I can say is, WTF?? This officer needs a psychological evaluation ASAP.
Connor • Apr 11, 2011 at 10:25 am
Charlie, you were not in the officer’s situation, so do not make assumptions about his actions until you know the whole story. The whole story means both sides in detail. What if the officer approached the vehicle without gun drawn to ask questions or to see what was going on, but was then had the car driven at him. Im sure this would make you feel threatened, and definitely makes the person look guilty. an innocent person would have not had an issue stopping to answer the officers questions and have been compliant.
Don’t judge and make assumptions before you know the whole story.
Student • Apr 13, 2011 at 4:26 pm
You seem to be missing the point here Connor. The argument that someone is guilty if they have an issue with answering questions to an officer violates the entire principle of someone being innocent until proven guilty. Also, you’re offering a what if situation as if it is the story. You don’t know any more than Charlie does what happened. I’d say as a general principle, when a DPS officer shoots out the window of a car in a parking lot, the students, faculty, and parents deserve a notification. The fact that there wasn’t one is worrisome.