ST. LOUIS — A “supervisor commander” improperly authorized the initial police release of a domestic assault suspect before he was charged by prosecutors, the city’s top public safety official said Monday.
Interim Public Safety Director Dan Isom said the release of the suspect, Mac Payne, on Jan. 4 “wasn’t consistent” with police department policy.
“In cases where there’s a medical release you should weigh ... whether or not there’s a potential threat of injury to the victim,” Isom said. “Certainly in this case there was a potential threat of injury to the victim.”
Payne’s release from the main city jail downtown after he tested positive for COVID-19 was cited by a police union attorney as a policy change by the administration of Mayor Tishaura O. Jones.
Isom has denied there has been a change in policy allowing the COVID-related release of potentially violent offenders; he has said Payne’s initial release was an aberration.
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Payne was rearrested Jan. 21 and then released again on Jan. 24 after a judge allowed him to post bail. Payne, 36, has pleaded not guilty to two felony counts of domestic assault.
Isom on Monday reiterated that beyond looking at Payne’s initial release, “We’re digging deeper ... to see if we have a broader problem with people not complying with the policy.”
Asked by a reporter if the supervisor who authorized the Payne release had been disciplined, Isom said only that “there’s a process that you have to go through to do that.”
Nick Dunne, a spokesman for the mayor’s office, said later that the department typically doesn’t comment on disciplinary issues because they are personnel matters.
Isom was asked about the Payne case during his weekly online briefing for reporters on downtown crime.
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