By Cristian Romero
The Scene staff
A Forest Park student is recovering from injuries he sustained in an assault on his way home from class.
Adam Clark, 41, reported that a man hit him on the head with a handgun while both were riding a MetroBus. Clark got eight staples for the wound at the hospital.
“I don’t think people should be worried about riding the bus,” he said. “But I also think that the bus driver could have handled it differently.”
The assault occurred about noon on Monday, Feb. 28. Clark filed a report with the St. Louis police department, and investigators notified Forest Park police.
“It didn’t happen on our property, but there was an assault at the bus stop that the city is working on,” said Lt. David Barryman, campus commander.
Clark recognized the suspect as someone who had asked him for money in the past outside D Tower. In that case, Clark gave the man $2 before a Forest Park police officer chased him away.
Here is what happened on Feb. 28, according to Clark:
- Clark left his American History 102 class and walked to a gas station on Hampton Avenue to buy a cigar, then he boarded a MetroBus on Oakland Avenue, half a mile west of campus.
- The suspect asked Clark for $5, and he told him he didn’t have any money. The man ordered him to go to the back of the bus, and Clark refused.
- The suspect allegedly said, “I don’t like white people,” showed him his gun and stood up. Clark also stood up, and the man started “swinging” at him.
- Clark grabbed the suspect by his hair and held him down until the bus stopped at Oakland and Highlander Drive. The driver opened the door, ran out and called police.
- Clark let go of the suspect, and the man hit him on the head with the gun before getting off the bus with a female friend and fleeing through campus.’
- Clark told his story to St. Louis police and went home. He later determined that his injury was serious enough that he needed go to the hospital.
Clark, who is white, described the suspect as a Black male in his 30s, about 6-foot-3 with shoulder-length braids or dreadlocks and dark clothing.
“(Investigators are) working on it, but in my opinion, I don’t think an arrest will be made,” Clark said.
Anyone who has information on the crime or suspect should contact St. Louis or Forest Park police.
Clark returned to classes the week after the assault. He’s a general studies student who plans to become radiologist someday.
“I had to miss school, and I racked up a bunch of hospital bills,” Clark said. “I have to deal with this ongoing investigation, in addition to school and other day-to-day responsibilities.”