St. Paul police focus on crime at University and Snelling

Dozens of young men converged at the intersection of University and Snelling avenues in mid-August, arguing and fighting. By the time Metro Transit police arrived, a 15-year-old boy had been stabbed in the chest.

The incident involving more than 40 juveniles originated on the light-rail platform and spilled onto the tracks and city streets. It was the latest incident at a busy intersection that has drawn special interest from St. Paul police this summer.

Responding to an uptick in crime, police added bike patrols, held community meetings and stepped up their presence, including with undercover officers.

"Some residents have reached out and asked for additional patrols," said Senior Cmdr. Shari Gray, head of the Western District. "We're just going to be more visible in the community and meet people."

Crime typically climbs as the weather warms, but while crime increased by 9 percent citywide from January to June, crime in the four police grids around Snelling and University increased 46 percent in that period. The grids stretch from Fairview Avenue east to Hamline Avenue, and from Minnehaha Avenue south to Marshall Avenue.

Gray and officer Charles Graupman, who works on crime prevention in the area, said that may be because the intersection is among the busiest in the city, seeing high levels of pedestrian, car, bus and train traffic since the 2014 launch of the Green Line. It also has a mix of residential housing and expansive retail space.

"It's a populated area, and it does have a large number of quality-of-life complaints," Graupman said.

The boy was surrounded by several members of the Everybody Killer gang when he was stabbed, according to a charge of second-degree riot with a dangerous weapon filed against Jordan Shamah-Sidney Rhodes, 17.

A Metro Transit police officer located Rhodes at the scene, but Rhodes ignored orders, hopped on a train and fled, the charges say.

Rhodes and several other juveniles eventually were arrested in connection with the nonfatal stabbing. One of the other juveniles was captured on surveillance video thrusting his arm into the victim's chest, the complaint said.

Just two days earlier on Aug. 15, St. Paul police had responded to the same intersection on a call of up to 20 people fighting and found a 45-year-old man with blood on his clothes, a scrape on his swollen face and a cut on his hand.

The man told police that Darrell Crowley, 57, struck him, setting off a mob attack. Several people began kicking and punching the victim in the head, arms, legs and back, according to a charge of terroristic threats filed against Crowley. The complaint did not specify a motive.

"It's not necessarily criminal behavior," Gray said. "It's more of a nuisance type of behavior, and it may be intimidating. Those types of behaviors are a lot of the calls we get."

As part of the suppression efforts, police stepped up curfew enforcement, made proactive "positive contacts" with residents and worked to divert youth toward programming and extracurricular activities with the help of the department's ambassadors and neighborhood groups.

Gray said the efforts have shown promise and will continue throughout the year. Numbers from the police department show that crime in the four grids around Snelling and University dropped about 30 percent from June to July. Crime citywide dropped about 8 percent in the same period.

Chao Xiong • 612-270-4708