Firefighter Rehired by St. Louis after Stealing Crash Victim's Wallet

Joe Holleman
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
(TNS)

Less than six months after confessing he used credit cards stolen from a survivor of a crash that killed four people, a former St. Louis firefighter has landed a new job — on the city’s payroll, at taxpayers’ expense.

Arnold S. Britt, 41, now is a building inspector with the city’s Building Division. He was hired Dec. 15, after his application was received and reviewed by the city’s Personnel Department.

Britt’s name began making frequent appearances in the local media in April 2023, when this bureau wrote the first of a series of stories about allegations surrounding his actions at a fatal crash in February 2023.

The crash took place on Feb. 26, 2023, when a driver traveling south on Grand Boulevard ran a red light and struck an SUV that was carrying eight people.

The impact pushed the SUV over a guardrail and sent it plummeting to Forest Park Avenue below; the driver fled from the scene.

Occupants of the SUV killed in the crash were Anthony Robinson, 19, of Jennings; Richard Boyd, 19, of Sullivan; Bryanna Dentman-Johnson, 18, of Vinita Park; and Corntrail McKinley, 20, of St. Louis. Four others in the SUV were injured.

Three days after the crash, Cedric Dixon, 34, of St. Louis, surrendered to police and was charged with 17 felonies. Dixon has since pleaded guilty to the charges and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

One of the injured SUV passengers, Seven Robinson-Laney, of St. Louis, told the Post-Dispatch that his monogrammed wallet — which contained the debit card, two $50 gift cards and more than $600 in cash — had been stolen from the accident scene.

In interviews with police and the Post-Dispatch, Robinson-Laney said after he pulled himself out of the SUV, a man who Robinson-Laney thought was a police officer asked if he had any identification.

Robinson-Laney pulled out his wallet and handed it to the man. The man took out a piece of ID, checked it and handed the ID back to him, but he did not return the wallet, Robinson-Laney said.

Britt was originally charged in May 2023, but then the case was held and presented in October 2023 to a county grand jury, which issued the two indictments.

On July 15, 2024, Britt pleaded guilty in court to a felony and a misdemeanor, and said his actions put a “stain on the community and the (city fire) department.”

In September, Circuit Judge David Vincent III placed Britt on three years probation, noting that he had no prior criminal record.

Then in December, Britt was working for the city again — a story first reported Thursday by Ryan Krull of St. Louis Magazine.

In an interview Friday with the Post-Dispatch, city Personnel Director Sonya Jenkins-Gray explained the process by which Britt was rehired.

Jenkins-Gray said that since the city Fire Department allowed Britt to resign his position, his application did not indicate he had been fired from a previous city job.

And, she said, because St. Louis is a “ban the box” city, Britt’s application for city employment was not flagged as being unacceptable.

“Ban-the-box” provisions were adopted by a number of cities several years ago, in an effort to give people a second chance at employment after being convicted of crimes.

“But we still do background checks on every employee” and her department was aware of Britt’s criminal history, she said.

Jenkins-Gray said that his history, however, did not preclude him from being classified as a “viable job candidate.”

Even so, Jenkins-Gray said that Building Division Commissioner Ed Ware knew of Britt’s history “because we discussed it, and (the building division) decided to give him a second chance.”

Jenkins-Gray noted that Britt will be a probationary employee for six months, until May 15.

Ware could not be reached for comment.

The Building Division has been under fire recently, including having the mayor’s office invite the FBI to investigate allegations of improper use of COVID-19 relief funds and other transgressions.

In a statement issued Friday, a spokesman for Mayor Tishaura Jones pointed out that the mayor’s office is not involved in performing background checks for other city departments.

Calling the city a “proud second-chance employer,” the statement continues to say “certain jobs are not appropriate for certain applicants based on prior actions.”

“We have spoken with the Department of Personnel and they have agreed to update their guidelines when evaluating background checks for positions that require public trust,” the statement said.

Countering the statement from the mayor’s office, Jenkins-Gray said her department began reviewing its evaluation process before Britt was hired in December by the Building Division.

“That review had nothing to do with” the recent revelation about Britt’s hiring, she said.

Jones and Jenkins-Gray are involved in a dispute of their own, with the mayor seeking to oust Jenkins-Gray for reasons unrelated to Britt’s employment.

Britt started with the city fire department in December 2013. He also is a former star athlete at Vashon High School who went on to play for the University of Missouri football team as a wide receiver from 2002-04.

Robinson-Laney, the theft victim in Britt’s case, declined to comment Friday about Britt being rehired by the city.

Joel Schwartz, Britt’s attorney in the criminal case, said he was pleased to learn that the city Building Division chose to hire Britt.

“Arnold is a hard-working, bright young man and I’m thrilled that St. Louis city decided to give him a second chance,” Schwartz said.

“We all could use one at times.”

Updated with Jenkins-Gray’s response to the statement by the mayor’s spokesman.

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