ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. – Police arrested a third road worker Thursday in connection with a workzone assault case that the FOX Files first reported on Wednesday. Prosecutors formally filed criminal charges against the three accused road workers on Thursday as well.
The St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office has charged Garrett Gibbs, 23, of Fenton; Matthew Devlin, 39, of Fenton; and Donnie Hurley II, 42, of Arnold, each with two counts of armed criminal action and one count of kidnapping. Devlin also faces a first-degree assault charge.
Gibbs exclusively talked with FOX 2 on the case for a FOX Files story that aired Wednesday evening, claiming that an off-duty officer “took a swing at one of the workers” and missed, hitting Gibbs instead. Gibbs claimed he and the other two workers were attacked by a man they claimed was the off-duty police officer and insisted on driving through their workzone.
A news release Thursday afternoon from the St. Louis County Police Department, which included a probable cause statement on the criminal charges of the three road workers, does not indicate that there was any physical involvement on behalf of the off-duty officer.
According to probable cause statement, police responded to the corner of Lindbergh Boulevard and Lemay Ferry Road in south St. Louis County on Thursday, Sept. 26, where road crews were repaving sections of Lindbergh.
The probable cause statement says, according to one witness account, Devlin “used repeated racial slurs while screaming” at the off-duty officer. His remarks allegedly included “stupid [expletive],” and telling the off-duty officer he did not “belong down here” and to “go back to the hood with your gold chain.”
Per the probable cause statement, police say Devlin “escalated the verbal altercation by striking the victim in the head with a hardhat.” The probable cause statement said that Gibbs and Hurley held the off-duty officer while Devlin hit him with the hardhat. It also said that off-duty officer was choking at one point, pleading with the workers that he could not breather.
According to the probable cause statement, other officers arrived to the scene as the situation was escalating and “interrupted” the situation.
FOX 2 reached out to the St. Louis County Police Department to clarify inconsistencies between the FOX Files report and the probable cause statement. A spokesperson for the department said, in response: “The probable cause statement contains all of the information we are able to release at this time. Anything outside of that is part of the ongoing investigation.”
FOX 2 learned that Gibbs was arrested around noon Thursday as he was driving his work truck in Webster Groves. FOX 2 counted around seven undercover police cars at the scene of the arrest.
Gibbs’ mother told FOX 2 that police were also at their Fenton family home serving a search warrant, prior to his arrest Thursday.
Court records indicate that Devlin and Hurley were arrested in connection with the case on Tuesday.
Devlin was booked into jail in St. Louis County on a $250,000 cash-only bond, while Hurley and Gibbs were booked into jail in St. Louis County on a $100,000 cash-only bond.
