ST. LOUIS, Missouri (KMOV) — A Black man in Holly Hills tells First Alert 4 that he’s had his house vandalized and has been verbally attacked with racial epithets.
He also lives two doors down from a church that was vandalized by ‘White Lives Matter’ graffiti last month.
Steven Hudson said he had to fork over $3,000 due to vandalism in August of 2022 after someone driving a white Ford Focus smashed into his garage.
Last year, Hudson filed a police report and then he said he spoke to neighbors, who told him they’ve also been experiencing racial harassment as well. After that, he believes the damage came from a planned attack.
“That’s when I really felt like I was a victim of a hate crime but wasn’t positive of it,” said Hudson. “The second incident, when it happened in April, was confirmed.”
Hudson tells First Alert Four in late April, while driving down an alley behind his home, a man in a white BMW vehicle began verbally assaulting him and his family.
He said threats were made, and the man even used racial slurs.
“Just a tirade of racist words,” said Hudson.
Hudson said he had surveillance video of the incident, but it’s since been automatically deleted. According to him, he showed it to the police after filing a second police report.
“My neighbor Mike, he heard also,” said Hudson.
Mike Steinfeld lives next door to Hudson.
“All of a sudden I heard this screaming,” said Steinfeld. “I believe I heard, I’m gonna kill you, and then the N-word.”
Steinfeld, who is white, said after going outside to check out the commotion, he only saw his next-door neighbor Hudson. But he believes he knows the man hurling racist words.
“I heard it from somebody besides Steven, no question about that,” said Steinfeld.
Police classified it as a “no bias” crime but it’s still under investigation.
In August someone spray-painted “White Lives Matter” on a church two doors down from Hudson.
He doesn’t know if the three incidents are connected.
But he tells First Alert Four he hasn’t heard about his previous police reports in months. Hudson thinks stopping the perpetrator could have prevented the church vandalism.
“If the authorities will be proactive instead of reactive, maybe they can prevent some of these occurring within our neighborhood, the community and then the city,” said Hudson.
We did some door knocking. Neighbors told us where the man that allegedly hurled racial slurs might live, but no one was home.
These incidents aren’t the only ones recently targeting minority groups. Last week, Webster Groves police reported two ‘Black Lives Matter’ signs burned, as well as a ‘Trans Lives Matter’ sign.
The most recent FBI data, which is from 2021, shows hate crimes in Missouri spiked 70% from 2020 to 2021.
For Hudson, he’s experienced anxiety ever since the initial attack. He doesn’t even let his son walk to the school bus stop alone.
“So we were fearful that this guy would make good on his threats,” said Hudson.
While the vandalism case is closed, police still say the second incident is an active investigation.
We also talked to a Black neighbor, who didn’t want to go on camera but said she wasn’t surprised about Hudson’s claims.
She said she recently had dog poop thrown on her porch and has since armed herself.
SLMPD has provided initial information but has not yet responded to First Alert 4′s request for answers to multiple questions.
