Nearly three years after St. Louis police crashed an SUV into a South City bar, the secrets of that night are finally being revealed (many of which were on video the whole time). The officer who crashed the vehicle? Contrite. The officer who showed up soon after? Decidedly not. I highly recommend Ryan Krull's full report from the downtown courthouse.
As for me, I was lucky to be at an intimate breakfast yesterday with the former president of Ukraine. It was a great chance to hear how St. Louis' resilient Ukrainian community is doing. Don't miss my report—or Nicholas Phillips' missive from a particularly meaningful pumpkin drop in St. Charles County.
P.S. I'll be hosting the Legal Roundtable on STLPR today at noon, and both Bar:PM and the Sunshine Law probe into the city's Police Board is on the agenda. Join us at 90.7 FM or via streaming.
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Officer Ramelle Wallace on the stand. Pool photography by Christian Gooden, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
THIS JUST IN
Police officer who escalated Bar:PM incident takes the stand—and offers no apologies
It was good cop, bad cop on the first day of testimony in the trial pitting the owner of a South City gay bar against the St. Louis police officer who handcuffed him shortly after a police SUV smashed into his business.
Ironically, the good cop was the one who crashed into the bar. Zachary Thompson, the probationary officer behind the wheel of the SUV that plowed into the bar, was contrite in his testimony. The same could not be said for Ramelle Wallace, the officer who responded to the scene smoking a cigar and quickly made things a whole lot worse. His time on the stand was contentious. Asked at one point if he was angry at the bar owner who raised his voice at him, Wallace insisted he wasn't. “I was being me,” he said.
Video from the scene showed Thompson express remorse for the crash. “It was a complete accident and I feel fucking terrible,” he told the bar's owners. When one accused him of committing a hate crime, Thompson, dazed after having an airbag deployed in his face, replied, “Dude? How is this a hate crime?” The trial will continue today. —Ryan Krull
Former Ukrainian president Viktor Yushchenko, left, at Patisserie Svoi on Tuesday. Photography by Gabe LePak
DEEP DIVE
Yushchenko visit fills STL Ukrainians with hope
For months, Ukrainians in St. Louis have been living under a cloud of uncertainty. This week, they got a dose of hope in the form of Viktor Yushchenko, Ukraine’s third president, who famously survived dioxin poisoning at a critical time in the nation’s history. (The Kremlin has denied any role in the attack.)
Yushchenko is in St. Louis this week to speak at WashU’s Weidenbaum Center. But he’s extended his visit. On Monday night, he spoke at St. Mary’s Assumption Ukrainian Catholic Church in South County. And on Tuesday morning, Yushchenko and his wife were guests of honor at Svoi Patisserie, the Ukrainian café in the Central West End.
Owners Dmytro and Taisiia Hrynchyshyn are among the Ukrainians in St. Louis grappling with the uncertainty around the Temporary Protected Status that allows Ukrainians to live, work, and drive here as the Russians bombard their homeland. Tetiana Mouzi, who moved to St. Louis from Ukraine 13 years ago and has helped guide many more recent arrivals, says Yuschenko’s visit has rallied the community. “If you think about it,” she says, “he is the person who brought us hope. And right now, we are asking for hope.” More on where the situation stands in our online story. —S.F.
Fewer buildings would close in latest SLPS plan (stltoday): The latest plan would close just nine buildings for a savings of $20 million. McKinley Classical Leadership Academy was given a reprieve at yesterday's meeting, leading to recrimination from some board members.
McBride Homes will be master developer of Jamestown Mall site (St. Louis Business Journal via KSDK): The builder has signed an agreement with the St. Louis County Port Authority to redevelop the 144.5-acre former mall into a mixed-use development with more than 500 houses and nearly 200 apartments.
St. Louis County resource officer injured in altercation with student (KMOV): Police said that the student was destroying property in an office at Oakville High when the resource officer attempted to intervene. The student kicked and hit the officer multiple times before being taken into custody.
A B-25 maintained by the Commemorative Air Force - Missouri Wing drops a barrage during the annual pumpkin drop at St. Charles County Regional Airport on October 24. Photography courtesy of Nick Carson
Around Town
🎃 SOUTH CITY MAN’S PUMPKIN DREAM COMES TRUE
Last weekend, the late Louis Tacchi Jr. finally got what he’d wanted: for his ashes to be placed into a pumpkin and dropped out of a B-25 bomber. Every October the St. Charles County Regional Airport–Smartt Field hosts a pumpkin drop, in which small planes circle while their crews release orange squash in the direction of some pitiable object just off the runway (a beat-up car, say, or a plane). Last Saturday, the B-25 maintained by the Missouri Wing of the Commemorative Air Force made a special flyby to drop a single, special pumpkin: One bearing the ashes of Tacchi, who had been a mechanic and craftsman at its hangar for decades.
Barb Tacchi says her late husband wouldn’t have expected all the hoopla. “He would be so shocked,” she said, “but I feel like he’s here with us all the time.” More in Nicholas Phillips’ story. —S.F.
🗳️ DEMOCRATS’ HOPES SOAR OVER CD 2 POLLING
Another day, another indication of a tightening race in Missouri’s 2nd Congressional District. Yesterday, acclaimed pollster Larry Sabato moved the race from "leans Republican" to “tossup." Perhaps not coincidentally, incumbent U.S. Rep. Ann Wagner (R-Ballwin), who’s held the seat for 13 years, has been hammering Democrat Fred Wellman in TV ads that show him describing himself as a “liberal” and a “progressive.” In a recent interview with St. Louis Public Radio’s Jason Rosenbaum, Wagner professed to have no regrets on her votes against curbing Trump’s war powers, despite the unpopularity of the ongoing war with Iran. “I believe that this will come to a quick end,” she told Rosenbaum. —S.F.
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Heard on the Street
Chugging along: The City of St. Louis’ train whistle controversy. The good news is that the city has completed necessary upgrades at 187 railroad crossings flagged by the Federal Railroad Administration as out of compliance. The just OK news is that the feds have inspected only about one-fifth (35) of them. The bad news is that the feds are requiring the city to complete time-consuming 48-hour traffic studies at each crossing before conductors will be allowed to stop blowing their horns. The city remains confident the whistles will be quiet by December.
Coming out swinging: Quinton Lucas. The Kansas City mayor followed up his social media salvo against the St. Louis Police Board Monday with a blistering op-ed in the Post-Dispatch Tuesday. Lucas tells us, “The people of St. Louis deserve better than a state-appointed circus. I’ve lived and governed under state control. Solutions are slower, statewide Republicans pit city residents against police leadership, and innovative crime solutions remain on the back burner. I plan to use whatever voice I have to encourage the governor to build a more professional board and, ultimately, to abolish the system. St. Louisans will keep seeing me as they don’t have to fight this fight alone.”
On this date, In 1965: Workers slid into place the final ten-ton piece of the Gateway Arch, completing Eero Saarinen’s catenary curve. Also on this date, in 2011: The Cardinals won the World Series by beating Texas 6-2, one day after David Freese’s 11th inning walk-off home run kept the team’s hopes alive. In short: This is an auspicious St. Louis day. Do something big!
Quick Hits
Eat up: Food & drink events in STL this month Cafe all day: New Lindenwood Park eatery + shop Maced: Johnnie Brock’s customer sprays and flees To die for: Halloween food & drink specials around town
“I think that taxpayers are willing to support things that they feel are necessary for good government. I think that what they told us in August loud and clear is they just saw this as a money grab.”
—St. Louis County Councilman Dennis Hancock, sharing his thoughts on The 314 Podcast about why the county’s recent request for a tax increase failed. Hancock is the Republican nominee for county executive.
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