St. Louis woman claims she was beaten by deputies after MetroLink security called them
ST LOUIS MO Sept 14 2018 A St. Louis woman claims she was severely beaten by sheriff’s deputies at the St. Clair County jail after falling asleep on a MetroLink bench.
The assistant superintendent of the St. Clair County Jail Capt. Danny Stockett says jail officers did punch Tia Higgins, but only in self-defense after she assaulted them.
Higgins is charged with two counts of aggravated battery for alleged assaults on two officers.
She was arrested September 5 in Fairview Heights after she allegedly threatened a MetroLink security guard who found her sleeping on a platform bench, and threw a cup of water at him. In the days that followed, Higgins claims she was severely beaten twice by guards at the St. Clair County jail.
“I probably was a smart mouth, he pushed me, I shoved a little bit back, and they started beating the crap out of me. … They punched me in the stomach several times. … They beat me almost half to death,” she says.
Higgins says she was beaten once during strip search while under suicide watch.
“It was inapporpriate as a woman, I feel like, to not have compassion and undressing in front of all these men,” she says. “And they stripped me naked and beat me naked in front of each other.”
Thirty-nine-year-old Higgins weighs about 100 pounds. She says she was eight weeks pregnant at the time of her arrest, and is trying to determine if she suffered a miscarriage from the two separate alleged beatings inside the jail.
(KMOX)
