ST. LOUIS — City police on Friday rearrested a man accused of domestic assault who was released from the city’s main jail 17 days earlier, allegedly because he had tested positive for COVID-19.
Evita Caldwell, a police spokeswoman, said in an email that the man, 36, was arrested by city police officers with the assistance of ºüÀêÊÓƵ County police.
Caldwell said he was in custody but didn’t say where. She also didn’t say where and when he was arrested.
“I am unable to provide any further comment as this is an ongoing criminal matter,†she said in the email.
Jane Dueker, an attorney for the ºüÀêÊÓƵ Police Officers Association, has alleged that the man was let go Jan. 4 even though city prosecutors had sent word that they were preparing criminal charges against him and would ask that no bail be allowed.
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Dueker, in media interviews and on social media, said the release after just three hours was part of a recent policy of the administration of Mayor Tishaura O. Jones, which oversees both the jail and the police department.
A criminal complaint was issued Jan. 4 by Circuit Attorney Kimberly M. Gardner’s office after his release, Dueker said. A judge followed up the next day with an order barring the man from being released on bond, but at that point, he no longer was being held.
The judge’s order said he was a potential danger to the victim, the community or another person.
According to a probable cause statement submitted by the police officer handling the case, the female victim said the man pushed her down and started to strike her in the face. Then he grabbed a pot of hot soup and threw it on her, resulting in burns and “missing skin.â€
The incident occurred on Jan. 4, the same day the man was originally arrested, in the 1400 block of North 19th Street.
Jones administration officials haven’t commented on the case, nor said whether there had been any policy change in an effort to limit the spread of the coronavirus at the jail, as Dueker contended.
The police department in a statement Wednesday said health status and the seriousness of a crime are among various factors determining whether people remain in custody at the jail.
Also on Wednesday, the city’s corrections commissioner said in a statement that her agency does accept some COVID-positive detainees and isolates them, working with hospitals, police and the city sheriff’s department to determine the best course of action on a case-by-case basis.