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Parents sue school, police and security for excessive force www.privateofficer.com
Named in the suit are Genesa Smith, a teacher; Eugene Page, a St. Louis police officer who the suit said is Smith’s boyfriend; Rodney Williams, a security guard; Tamara Thomas, the charter school’s principal at the time; and the school itself.
The suit, filed by the boy and his mother, Barbara Perry, alleges Page lifted the boy by his throat and slammed him repeatedly against a wall on Feb. 26. The suit states that Page told the boy he had been accused of threatening a teacher, and that the other three knew what was happening but did nothing. The boy, now 16, suffered injuries that caused blood in his urine, as well as blunt force trauma, according to the suit.
Paul Feber, the school’s regional vice president, said Friday that school officials and lawyers were looking into the case. He also said that Smith, Williams and Thomas no longer are employed at the school, but he declined to elaborate.
Police did not respond Friday night to a request for information about Page’s employment status with the department.
Police have said officers have been called to the school at 706 North Jefferson Avenue several times during the last school year. In April, a female student suffered serious injuries when she was stabbed in the stomach with a pencil during a fight with another girl. Two school security officers suffered minor injuries as they arrested a female suspect. A teacher also suffered a minor injury, police said.
About an hour later, a group of students at the front doors became unruly. An officer who tried to restrain a girl broke his wrist and suffered ligament damage to a knee when he fell in the parking lot as she escaped his grasp and ran
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St. Louis police officer commits suicide www.privateofficer.com
St. Louis police officer commits suicide http://www.privateofficer.com
Just a few hours after he learned he might be the target of a child pornography investigation in St. Louis County, a St. Louis City policeman committed suicide.
The 37-year-old man, originally from Bosnia, was identified by local Bosnian leaders as Vladimir Vujica. He had been a city officer for two and a half years.
Tuesday, St. Louis County detectives notified Vujica that they had a search warrant to seize his home computer. He gave them the key to his condominium in Mehlville.
Officers entered the home while Vujica was on duty in the city and took the computer and some papers, according to County Police spokeswoman Officer Tracy Panus. She said a computer software program had traced the transfer of child pornography to a computer IP address that was located at Vujica’s home.
At the end of his shift Tuesday night, St. Louis City Internal Affairs officers picked up Officer Vujica to take him to police headquarters to question him about his residency. City officers are required to live in St.Louis City during their first seven years of duty.
But at Tucker and Park, Vujica left the police car and ran into a neighborhood. Officers were unable to find him.
Several hours later a citizen found the wounded officer and called 911.
Police chose not to wait for an ambulance. They carried him to the back seat of a patrol car and quickly drove to Saint Louis University Hospital. But he was pronounced dead of a self-inflicted wound to the head.
Friends and neighbors of Officer Vujica said they were shocked by the news.
Trace Robinson described him as a part of her family. She said he had worked at a local hotel with her mother for at least four years before entering the Police Academy. “He was a loving gentleman. He called by mom ‘grandma’ and he looked out for her,” she said.
Robinson questioned the child pornography investigation saying she always felt comfortable around Vujica and never worried about her children when he was visiting.
The head of a community group, the United Bosnian Association, Ibrahim Vajzovic described the officer as “very nice and a good member of the community.”
Friends say he is survived by his mother, sister and a nephew.
St. Louis City Police Chief Dan Isom authorized a critical incident review following the suicide to determine if any department policies should be changed regarding the transfer of individuals to the Internal Affairs Division Office.
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