ST. LOUIS — Byers' Beat is a weekly column written by the I-Team's Christine Byers, who has covered public safety in St. Louis for 15 years. It is intended to offer context and analysis to the week's biggest crime stories and public safety issues.
ST. LOUIS — Suicide attempts.
A homicide attempt.
Assaults on police officers, juvenile authorities, family members and strangers.
And he’s only 15.
Now, St. Louis juvenile authorities who have been grappling with repeated escapes from their facility believe the safest place for him is in an adult facility.
“The Juvenile Detention Center does not have the ability to provide for the care, custody, and control of the pretrial-certified juvenile or to protect the public, staff members and other youth in its custody from him,” according to a motion written by James Michaels, chief trial attorney for the 22nd Judicial Circuit’s Juvenile Office.
The motion seeking to have the teen housed in an adult facility could be the first of its kind in the state, as it invokes a part of the recently enacted Raise the Age law.
That law raised the age of a juvenile in Missouri from 17 to 18, bringing the state in line with most other states in the country.
Juvenile experts lauded the change, noting how adolescents’ brain development affects their abilities to comprehend the magnitude of their choices.
It also gives juveniles another year to get on the right path and have access to social services before their crimes become part of a public adult record.
The law also provided juvenile authorities with a way to ask the courts if juveniles who become certified as adults for their crimes can be moved to adult facilities.
St. Louis authorities believe the 15-year-old I’m mentioning in this column seems to fit those criteria.
According to the motion:
At the age of 13, in September 2019, he was found guilty in a juvenile court in Tennessee of trying to assault an aunt and uncle as well as a police officer with a knife.
In March 2021, he was found guilty of attempted robbery and armed criminal action in St. Charles Family Court after he robbed someone at gunpoint. He was committed to the Division of Youth Services.
He was moved to the facility along Hogan Street in St. Louis after alleged incidents at the Division of Youth Services Hillsboro Treatment Center.
In July, police said he tried to stab a staff member there. He’s been charged with first-degree assault for that allegation. Police said he also smeared bleach in that staff member’s eyes and is charged with second-degree assault and armed criminal action for that allegation.
In September, he escaped from the facility by smashing through a window with a fire extinguisher, assaulted a staff member during his escape and stole a car off the premises.
He was then moved to the facility along Enright Avenue in St. Louis – which has been the site of four escapes involving at least a dozen youths within the past six months.
In September, he punched another juvenile in the face, according to the motion.
A month later, he attacked a youth leader. Two days later, authorities found a shank on him, which he said he was planning to use on a particular staff member.
Four days after that, on Oct. 16, one of the escapes happened. He told youth leaders he helped plan it and was frustrated that he didn’t have the chance to escape because he was off of the unit when his fellow juveniles made their move.
In November, he tried to escape from his room by breaking glass, announcing he had another shank and trying to choke a responding youth leader with his handcuff chain and assaulting others with his hands.
Also that month, he threatened to kill himself, wrapped a shirt around his neck. A staff member was injured in the fight to restrain him.
On Feb. 5, he along with three of his fellow detainees escaped from the detention center. St. Louis police recaptured him later that day.
On Feb. 11, he threatened staff and threatened to break a glass door. Three days later, he threatened self-harm.
On Feb. 20, he attacked two youth leaders, punching both of them and breaking one of their glasses.
“It would be in the best interests of justice to move the pretrial-certified juvenile to an adult jail,” according to the motion.
In a previous story about the repeated escapes, Circuit Court spokesman Jacob Long mentioned state standards prohibit juvenile facilities from employing corrections officers.
Instead, there are youth leaders who run the facility and they are not allowed to use certain levels of force or weapons including tear gas or any other chemical agents like you would see in an adult facility.
So, in addition to spending about $330,000 in improvements to the building and technology, it appears juvenile authorities in St. Louis are also trying to use the law to move juveniles with a history of escaping to adult facilities.
And this boy is only 15.
