Photo Credit: Lindy Drew / Humans of St. Louis
Gina: It was early evening, I had just gotten off work, and it started to drizzle. I’m always very aware wherever I am. So when I had pulled up to my house, I put the car in park and the doors automatically unlocked. I saw this guy and thought, “What’s he doing?” I don’t like when people are milling around. He was catty-corner across the street, walking. Then he looked at me, I looked at him, and he turned to walk towards my car. My instinct was to lock the doors, so I hit the locks. And in like two seconds, he was at my rear driver’s side door trying the handle.
I don’t know what his plans were. I don’t think he thought I was his Uber. He immediately walked to the alley and my next instinct was to keep an eye on this guy. So I turned the car around and called 911. I was on the phone with an operator telling them what he was wearing. I didn’t use the word “carjack,” but I said, “He tried to get in my car while I was in it.” The lady asked me, “Are you safe?” I said, “Well, I’m in my car.” And she told me, “Just go inside.” It was like, “He’s still out here. He could do this to someone else. Don’t you understand what I need?” Maybe she didn’t.
I couldn’t see him while I was talking to the operator and then he walked back out towards me in the same direction he came. So I drove past him and did another U-turn so he was in front of me again. I let the dispatcher know what direction he was headed and again she said to just go inside my home. It was like, “He’s trying to take someone’s car. Can you please have the police come?” I ended up parking, went inside, and told my husband. I locked the door and headed upstairs to look out the window for the police. Finally, 10, 15, 20 minutes passed and a police van came down the street. I ran out on my deck to wave at him and he just drove by. And that was it. It took two and half hours until an officer stood at my doorstep and talked to me.
Gina: I don’t know what their protocol is or if they were out looking for him since I gave a description. I gave it a few more minutes. Called 911 again. They said a police officer did stop by but they could send somebody else. I was like, “Why didn’t they knock on my door to talk?” She said, “Because oftentimes people don’t want contact.” “But I gave you my name, phone, and address? What made you think that? P.S. — It’s after work, I’m hungry, and now it’s six o’clock.”
I posted the video and my neighbors saw what happened and tried to get involved. One was like, “I’m calling the chief of police.” Another neighbor called our neighborhood cop, who was off that day but made some calls. Then he gave me his direct number. He said, “You should be able to call 911, but just call me.” At one point, I called dispatch a third time because I was pissed. An officer stopped by and told me the first officer who drove by was the responding officer. I asked, “What did he respond to?”
The guy who tried to get in my car looked like 16 years old. And I didn’t want to call the cops to go after him. I didn’t know if he had a developmental problem or was confused. I felt under attack and violated, but, I mean, someone needed to talk to the guy at least to tell him not to do this anymore. In the end, I asked the officer, “Do you want this video?” He was like, “Oh, you have a video?” I emailed it to him and that was it. What a waste of time. I didn’t hear anything back ever again.
Gina: I just wanted a cop to come as if it was an emergency. And I wished they could have found him. I also think the operator handled things badly. Like, to tell me to go inside? That was weird.
Lindy: What would have been more helpful for the next person who calls 911?
Gina: I don’t know what her job is. I keep thinking of what I could have done differently. I remember offering the description of the guy. But I think I could have given more info, said the word “carjack” to make it more serious,’ said I wanted contact even though I didn’t know that then. And if it was all over and I had an officer in front of me and the guy couldn’t be found, I’d still want to share the video, but have a follow-up. I mean, even if they said, “Let us know if you see him in the neighborhood again,” that would have been something.
Gina: About a month ago, at four o’clock in the morning, we were sleeping and I heard “beep, beep, beep.” I was thinking, “What is that noise?” It sounded familiar. The alarm was on. I looked at the cameras. And, oh my gosh, someone had walked up to our door and pressed a bunch of numbers for the keyless entry. They guessed wrong and just walked away, but I recognized the guy. He wanders around here in the neighborhood. He’s very polite and he asks for stuff: “Do you have any food? What’s your cell phone number? Can you give me a ride?” Just, rapid-fire. Sometimes he calls me “sir.” Just a goofy guy.
My husband called the police that day and I let him know to tell them we want contact. Because I learned my lesson when the other guy tried to get in my car and that’s what the operator and cop who stopped by told me to do. They said, “Most people in this neighborhood don’t want police contact. So if you do, you need to tell them.” Okay, I’ll do my part. But my husband didn’t end up saying it and that night we were on hyperalert. The cops were driving around in circles and I took it as they weren’t going to stop, not that they were driving around looking for the guy.
So I called 911 back in tears saying, “We just called, we want contact, they didn’t stop.” She said, “I know you’re upset. They have the description. They’re gonna look for him first and I promise you they’re gonna stop by your house.” I was like, “Thank you.” I feel like if I know the rules, I’ll do whatever they want me to. But I don’t know the rules.
Gina: Justice is always at the top of my mind. Not that I want anyone to go to jail, but it’s like, “You did something wrong and you can’t just get away with it. You should learn that you can’t do this.” But does any of that matter? I learned my lesson about CrimeStoppers because there was a lot of drug activity I could see from the balcony of my home. And calling 911 didn’t help, which our liaison cop tells us to do: “When you see a crime in action, call 911.” So I do and then the operator tells us if this is an ongoing thing, we should call CrimeStoppers to track it. Fine. So I called in the morning. Nobody answered. Finally, I wrote an email through the police’s app. And I called the non-emergency number. But I was told I need to record any info in the app. I’d been doing that and I never hear back. So I told them I just wanted to find out what I should do if I see something and it’s a non-emergency. And they basically said to keep submitting stuff. It felt like I was just putting a report in the trash can. So I stopped doing that. I’m never calling CrimeStoppers again.
Gina: I did hesitate to fill out the form posted on the Forward Through Ferguson and Humans of St. Louis sites. But the system we have in place should protect everybody. I’ve had discussions with people in the neighborhood. Half are like, “Call 911 no matter what. Then we can track issues. We can be a neighborhood that’s proactive and maybe people won’t commit crimes here.” And then I have other neighbors, all of whom I’m thinking about are white, and they would say, “You shouldn’t call 911, because someone can get killed. They’re not social workers. Folks will get shot because the police are bringing guns into the situation.” I grew up thinking you can call 911 for help. And I can see it doesn’t work, so why would I call? And the times the police do respond, I don’t know, they might hurt someone. It’s true.
Lindy: Where did you learn to call 911 when you were young?
Gina: Probably in school. I remember having Officer Friendly and the D.A.R.E. person coming to school. I remember if you’re in trouble, you’re supposed to call an officer to ask for help. I also grew up in West County where I never had to call 911 for a crime, although I called when my mom had suicide attempts and we needed an ambulance. I’ve called a lot since I moved back to St. Louis City. Working in the library, I’ve had to. If I think about it, I’ve had to call maybe 60 to 100 times.
Gina: We close the library at five o’clock on Fridays. At 4:55, this kid comes in without his shirt on, without his shoes. And he’s bleeding from his head. Skinny little guy, about 14 years old. And he says, “Miss Gina, this is a Safe Place, right?” He says his step-dad did that to him because he was trying to protect his sister. I gave him a snack, I had my staff close up the library, and I called 911.
Moline Acres Police answered, and when they arrived, they acted bored. The paramedics asked, “Who did this to you? Well, let’s just call your mom. Where is she?” The kid said, “She works at some restaurant. Let me think.” And they yelled, “Well, does she work there or do you think she does? We can’t treat you unless we talk to one of your parents.” Finally, I was like, “What the heck is happening here?” I looked up the name of the restaurant, there was one in St. Louis and one in St. Charles, and he remembered she worked at the second one.
So I called and she was there. I told her her son was with us, he’s bleeding, and the police and paramedics are here. She gets on the phone with them and when they asked for permission to treat her son, she said no. She probably thought it would cost money and they’d have to transport him. One nice paramedic was looking out for the child and gave him a band-aid.
I was like, “What happens now? First, aren’t you all mandatory reporters, because I’m about to call. What do you want this child to do? Go home? Are you gonna give him a ride home? Or should he walk home to the attacker?” The police finally paid attention, like, “This lady is gonna cause trouble if we don’t.” So they took him to the police station. But I had no trust that anyone was going to hotline what happened, so I did. And that’s a whole other system that doesn’t work.
A few days later, I saw the boy in the library and asked how things were at home. He said, “Everything’s okay now. Our stepdad took us to Six Flags. We had a good day.” The next day, I had to type up a report, my library director called, and I was just bawling, like, “No one’s going to protect him. And he’s protecting his little sister.” That one made me so mad. It was really hard.
—
Gina Sheridan is an Old North St. Louis resident and St. Louis County librarian.
Lindy Drew / Humans of St. Louis contributed to this photo story.
This story is a collaboration between Humans of St. Louis and Forward Through Ferguson for #Transforming911, an accountability and advocacy tool that examines St. Louis’ 911 system and serves as a call to reimagine public safety.
Learn more and get involved at transforming911.org.