Officials accuse area police of failing to serve and protect in the deaths of 2 people

Around 11 p.m. on July 9, 2023, according to the disciplinary complaint, Michelle Anders, injured, alone, and allegedly intoxicated, was lying on the side of U.S. Highway 412 when she saw the red and blue lights of a Dunklin County sheriff’s cruiser.

She told Deputies Joseph Philpot and Nicholas Cobb she was walking from Little Rock and was fleeing a violent situation. Visible bruises stained her face, and there was a knot on her head. She stated her shoulder was broken, according to the disciplinary complaints in both deputies’ cases.

On body camera video, provided to First Alert 4 Investigates, the deputies asked her if she wanted an ambulance, and she declined. They then pressed her to tell them where she was trying to go, and she said she was heading to Chicago to see her son.

Anders told the deputies she did not have a phone, was not familiar with the area, and asked them for a ride to the nearest gas station.

After a conversation with each other, it became apparent that it was not going to happen.

“You want to give her a ride?” Philpot is seen asking Cobb.

“Not really,” Cobb replied.

The deputies then told her to walk and told her if she needed to rest, to do so in the grass and not on the shoulder of the highway, the footage shows.

“I don’t want you to get run over,” Cobb told her.

Anders pleaded with the deputies to take her to town, asking them, “Can you please take me there?”

Their response, however, was that they didn’t have room in their cruiser.

“I don’t have nowhere to put your stuff. I’m telling you my car is full,” Cobb told her. “Just stay off the white line and keep walking.”

Anders did not keep walking. Instead, 13 minutes later, according to police and Highway Patrol reports, she intentionally sat down on the highway in front of a semi-truck.

Anders was a mother of two children, her sister told First Alert 4 Investigates. She says the loss has been devastating, and she would rather have seen her sister arrested if simple help wasn’t offered.

“I get to spend the rest of my life without her and so do her children. She doesn’t get to see them get married or be a grandmother or anything because of them, because of them,” her sister said, referring to the deputies.

Her sister says if the deputies had shown some kindness on the night Anders died, she might still be alive. She says not only should the deputies be disciplined, but they should also be charged with a crime.

“Because my sister’s blood is on their hands because they did not do their job,” her sister said. “They took an oath to serve and protect, and they did none of that. They laughed at her face, said they didn’t have room for her things, and she was dead 13 minutes later.”

In response to the disciplinary process, Philpot has denied the allegations. His attorney filed a response filed with the state, in which Philpot states that while Anders had visible injuries, she declined an ambulance. Anders, his response states, did not appear intoxicated and was not accused of a crime, and therefore he could not arrest her.

Philpot also cited a July 6 report from the Lonoke County, Arkansas, Sheriff’s Office showing that Anders was allegedly a suspect in a domestic violence case, not the victim, although, according to his police report and the dash camera video, it does not appear he knew that at the time.

He also says he had no reason to believe she was a threat to him or others and that because she was recently released from a hospital for treatment of her injuries, she would have undergone a suicide assessment.

Cobb’s attorney said he could not comment much on the pending proceeding but told First Alert 4 Investigates his client was prepared to vigorously defend himself and would be vindicated.

Both deputies are still employed with the agency. Sheriff Bob Holder, when contacted about the incident, declined to comment.

Twenty-nine-year-old Urayoan Rodriguez-Rivera moved from Puerto Rico to St. Louis after finding a job on the internet, his mother said. He lived in an apartment building in the Central West End, just a few blocks from Forest Park.

Rodriguez-Rivera had long struggled with his mental health. On Sept. 10, 2023, according to disciplinary complaints filed with the state, he dialed 911 and told the dispatcher he was going to end his life.

Two St. Louis Metropolitan Police officers who responded to the incident, Austin Fraser and Ty Warren, found Rodriguez-Rivera sitting under a tree at 6:26 p.m. in Forest Park. He had a gunshot wound to the head but was still breathing.

It’s what officers Fraser and Warren allegedly failed to do when they found him that could cause them to never wear a badge again. According to the disciplinary complaints in the cases of both officers, Warren initially told Fraser that they needed to take the call and write the report.

“We need to take this (expletive) then,” Warren reportedly told his partner.

“We ain’t taking this (expletive),” Fraser responded, according to the complaint. “Let’s cruise around and come back.”

Without providing any aid, calling an ambulance, checking the scene for a weapon, or contacting their dispatchers, the two officers walked away from the still-breathing man one minute after they arrived, according to the complaints.

They then drove through several streets in the Central West End and returned when another officer arrived at the scene.

As St. Louis Metropolitan Police Officer Timothy Tubbs began looking for the victim, Warren and Fraser walked behind him, pretending they had just arrived, according to the disciplinary complaints against them.

When Tubbs found Rodriguez-Rivera at 6:39 p.m., he was still breathing. Believing he was the first officer to arrive at the scene, Tubbs called EMS. Rodriguez-Rivera was taken to a hospital, where he died the following day.

The actions of officers Fraser and Warren were discovered during a routine review of body camera recordings, according to the complaint. When confronted by his supervisors, Warren allegedly said he made a “dumb” mistake and had succumbed to pressure from Fraser.

Details about who Rodriguez-Rivera was or why he moved to St. Louis from Puerto Rico are scant. His mother told First Alert 4 her son’s death was too painful to talk about, but she described him as calm and intelligent.

According to a St. Louis Medical Examiner’s Office investigation, Rodriguez-Rivera’s mother said he struggled with depression for many years. About a week before his death, he saw a psychiatrist and was admitted to Barnes Hospital for a two-day stay due to suicidal thoughts.

Rodriguez-Rivera left a note saying he was ending his own life. He also paid his roommate his share of rent for the remaining months of 2023, according to the medical examiner’s investigation.

He owned the gun he used, which was initially reported at the scene when officers arrived, according to the medical examiner’s investigation, which cited hospital notes. Police later claimed there was no firearm located and that it was stolen before officers arrived.

First Alert 4 requested body camera footage and incident reports from the incident. The department’s records custodian declined to provide an unredacted copy of the incident report. The request for body camera footage was still being processed as of the publishing of this article.

Warren and Fraser became officers together in October 2019. Warren left the department in October 2023. Fraser left in 2022 but came back for re-employment in August 2023 and left the department one month later, four days after the suicide.

First Alert 4 Investigates reached out for a response from both but has not heard back.

St. Louis police declined to comment. Spokesperson Mitch McCoy told us in an emailed response that the agency holds officers to the highest standards.

“The two individuals are no longer employed by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department,” McCoy said. “While we are unable to comment on specific personnel matters, SLMPD holds its officers to the highest of standards. Appropriate disciplinary action will be taken if an officer is found to have violated policies.”

If the Missouri Department of Public Safety determines a police officer’s license is subject to disciplinary action, they pass the information to the Missouri Attorney General’s Office to file a complaint.

The attorney general files the complaint with the Missouri Administrative Hearing Commission, which determines disciplinary action. According to state statute, there are three general categories for discipline — an officer has committed an act of “gross misconduct,” an act of “moral turpitude,” or an act of “reckless disregard.”

Actions can range from a letter of reprimand to the officer’s employer or a suspension or revocation of their peace officer license, which would prevent them from enforcing the law in the state.

Hearings for Dunklin County deputies Cobb and Philpot are set for February in Jefferson City. In the cases, the complaint states the officers’ actions showed “reckless disregard” for the safety of Anders.

Both Cobb and Philpot “acted with reckless disregard for the safety of M.A. by leaving her on the side of the major thoroughfare at night, despite knowing that M.A. was a potential domestic violence victim, severely injured, and intoxicated,” their complaints state.

Fraser and Warren are both accused of moral turpitude, reckless disregard and gross misconduct in the complaint related to their actions in the death of Rodriguez-Rivera.

“The paramount responsibility of a peace officer is to preserve life,” the complaints state.

A default decision to discipline the license of former SLMPD Officer Warren was issued on Oct. 18 by the Administrative Hearing Commission. The Missouri Department of Public Safety has confirmed his license is now inactive.

A hearing in Fraser’s case is set for January.

Gary Burger is a St. Louis-area attorney who is experienced in law enforcement cases. First Alert 4 Investigates asked him about the concept of “reckless disregard,” which he said is simply knowing the rules but “blowing by them anyway.”

And that is what the state is accusing the officers of in all cases, Burger said.

“They’re both beyond the pale,” Burger told First Alert 4 Investigates. “I think they both rise above that level. Leaving injured people in harm’s way, both a danger to themselves and to other people, is inappropriate conduct from a police officer.”

Burger says that while it’s difficult to hold police accountable for their actions, it’s even more difficult to hold them to account for inaction. While families may pursue a lawsuit, criminal charges are unlikely.

“The law protects officers,” Burger told First Alert 4. “And it’s hard to hold officers, either civilly or criminally responsible for their actions when they do an act of commission — when they’re doing something, when they arrest someone or shoot someone or put someone in handcuffs, or, heaven forbid, are physically violent with someone — but omission, the lack of doing something, is even harder.”

“The law is going to give them even more defenses,” he said.