This is a tale of two aldermen who each had a difficult weekend. Alderman Antonio D. French had a hard weekend. His North Side ward was the site of five shootings over the weekend, two of them fatal. Jarrell Hunter and Alvin Dees were shot dead.
In response, French convened religious leaders in his ward as well as a small group of constituents. They joined hands in prayer and committed themselves to seeking peace in their neighborhoods.
A street source reported that the violence was traded between rival groups that controlled two separate blocks in the ward. French met with St. Louis Metropolitan Police Chief Daniel Isom to discuss gang abatement strategies and reaffirm his request that surveillance cameras be instituted in his ward.
French communicated his anguish directly to constituents in the neighborhood, and also to the wider public through posts on social media. French was a pioneer political blogger in St. Louis with Pub Def before running for office and remains very active on Twitter and Facebook.
Meanwhile, Alderman Jeffrey Boyd of the nearly neighboring 22nd Ward in North St. Louis was having his own troubled weekend. It also involved a form of video surveillance and the police.
At around 11:30 p.m. on Friday night, St. Louis police responded to a call in the 5800 block of Dr. Martin Luther King Drive. They came across a man who had taken off his clothes in the street and was standing in the middle of the street wearing only his underwear.
“The man, later determined to be 32 years old, was agitated and appeared to be in an altered state. He was pacing back and forth. The man would not answer any of the officers’ questions, but officers were eventually able to convince the man to get out of the street and walk to the sidewalk,” the police reported.
The police report continues, “While waiting for assistance from EMS to transport the man to a hospital, the officers on the scene saw two male bystanders in front of 5891 Dr. Martin Luther King who had their cell phones out and appeared to be videotaping the incident.”
These two men were Alderman Boyd and his friend Andre Williams, the 22nd Ward committeeman.
In addition to videotaping this distressed constituent, police said, Boyd and Williams also were asking him questions and commenting on his strange behavior. Concerned that this attention might set the man off, police told the two “bystanders” to back away from the scene and stop videotaping the incident.
The officers feared the disoriented man “could again become irrational if the two bystanders continued to talk to him and videotape him while he wore only his underwear,” according to the report.
Williams complied, but Boyd “refused, stating he had the right to record video,” according to the report. “Officers agreed he had the right but asked that he stop, not only because the male was in his underwear, but also because of the man’s mental condition and the likelihood that it could agitate him, therefore posing a danger.”
When Boyd refused again, the cops called for backup.
Again they asked Boyd to step back and again Boyd refused. Concerned that they would be unable to defuse the situation with Boyd while also keeping the disoriented man from hurting himself or someone else, officers requested backup.
When Boyd persisted in encroaching on the police work, he finally was placed under arrest and “forcibly” handcuffed him. In the end, he was issued a summons at the scene for “Interfering with a Police Officer” and released.
Boyd tells a different story.
“I was never told why I was being handcuffed or read any Miranda Rights,” he said in a statement to The American. “I feel that any citizen has the right to videotape any incident that involves the police. The police have no authority to violate the rights of citizens.”
Boyd may have his day in court to argue that his rights were violated, against the police officers’ contention that he was interfering with their ability to peacefully defuse a potentially dangerous situation.
But Boyd is more than “any citizen.” He is a city legislator elected by the people to serve the people. Yet the only thing – by anyone’s account – that Boyd did in this episode that was even remotely aldermanic was to repeatedly tell the officers that he is an alderman.
The question, then is: Why was this elected official videotaping one of his constituents in a state of almost complete undress in the middle of the street as midnight neared on a Friday night?
Boyd admitted to The American the police handled this unfortunate individual with great respect and effectiveness. Before the man was taken to a hospital for evaluation, the police managed to help him get dressed when á woman appeared with his clothing.
In his statement to The American, Boyd offered this explanation: “I decided to videotape the interactions of the police officers and the gentleman. I was curious as to how they would handle this situation.”
It was nothing more than curiosity. Boyd did not explain why he continued to videotape this humiliating and disturbing incident once his curiosity had been satisfied and he saw the police were handling his constituent respectfully.
Jeffrey Boyd has been one of Mayor Francis G. Slay’s closest African-American allies in city politics. Slay repeatedly has donated money to Boyd’s election campaign, and they routinely endorse each another.
When recently asked by The American, Slay campaign spokesman Richard Callow confirmed, “Mayor Slay supports Alderman Boyd’s campaign, and has – and will – continue to contribute to support it.”
