Alderman describes encounter with woman he says tried to rob him

By David Amelotti

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    ST. LOUIS (KMOV) — Explicit language fills a nine-minute Facebook Live video that City of St. Louis Alderman Brandon Bosley posted Thursday night as he waited for police to respond after he says a woman threatened his life in a carjacking attempt.

“This woman was closer to me than I am to you, up in my face, threatening to kill me, to shoot me, for me to give her keys,” Bosley explained. “She wasn’t incoherent, didn’t have a speech impediment, or high on drugs.”

This alleged encounter happened near the intersection of North 20th and Madison in the St. Louis Place neighborhood. Bosley said he was in the neighborhood taking care of an issue constituents were facing with a lack of lids for area dumpsters.

As he walked up to his car to leave, that’s when a woman approached him. He said she wanted his keys, and reached into her right pocket, threatening to shoot him if he didn’t listen.

“There was a white sedan sitting at the corner, they start shooting, and I ran when she turned around. I saw an opportunity and I got the hell out of there, I saw she took off, I ran back to my vehicle, drove off, and called 911,” Bosley said.

The six-year alderman said he followed the white sedan for several blocks but lost it. He then went to a gas station just down the road from where he first encountered the woman.

“I saw this same woman trying to rob people coming down Madison,” Bosley said. “I pulled out my phone which I think is the smartest thing to do before police arrive. I recorded this person trying to hurt people, happening in my face, in the middle of the street. I have all these elderly people that live here, people need to know not to come outside.

Bosley acknowledges in the video he has a pistol and at various points, is seen carrying it. He told News 4 it’s a registered firearm.

Bosley is rolling as he gets out of his car, carrying his firearm, walks up to the woman on the snow-covered ground, and begins to interrogate her.

“Hell, let me help you but you just tried to rob me. Are you strapped,” Bosley said in the video. “Do you have a gun, honey? Let me help you because everyone driving past is going to hurt you, somebody is going to kill you.”

We asked Bosley if he felt the explicit language and approaching the woman before police arrived was appropriate.

“When you see me speak, see me curse, it is not out of anger, it is out of passion,” Bosley said.

The video has been viewed thousands of times, with hundreds of comments. Not everyone agrees with Bosley’s actions, including posting to social media.

“I think there was just a better way it could have been handled,” State Rep. Rasheen Aldridge said.

Aldridge lives in Bosley’s ward. He’s also running against Bosley for the new Ward 14 alderperson spot.

“In my opinion you can tell she has some type of mental illness,” Aldridge shared. “You can just tell even on the ground something wasn’t right. You could see in her mugshot, you can see in her eyes there was some mental health.”

Bosley said no critic knows what it’s like to fear like you’re being robbed at gunpoint. He said he’s thankful to still be alive.

“I am a person who tries to help, but I’m not trying to get hurt,” Bosley shared. “I understand there are dangerous people in my city, should I not approach them because they are dangerous? If a person tried to rob me, came to get a job today, I’ll help you get that job, but I’m also going to say you need to watch him.”

Police arrested the woman, identified as 40-year-old Bianca Robinson. The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department said officers recovered a knife in her pocket, but did not say that she had a gun.

“The exact description I gave them reaching into her right pocket, that is where they found an actual steak knife,” Bosley shared. “This woman was committing an ACA, she could have stabbed the [expletive] out of me. That could have been it, I could have been dead.”

Prosecutors charged Robinson with first-degree robbery and armed criminal action.

Police said the investigation is ongoing. News 4 also reached out to Mayor Tishaura Jones’ office for comment. We are still waiting to hear back.

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