State briefs 8/10/2015

Drive-by shooting reported near march

FERGUSON, Mo. -- St. Louis County police are investigating a drive-by shooting that happened just blocks from a march that marked a year since Michael Brown's death in Ferguson. The shooting happened about 1:40 p.m. Sunday, near the site where several hundred people were marching from Canfield Drive to a church. Canfield Drive is where Brown, who was black and unarmed, was killed by Ferguson officer Darren Wilson on Aug. 9, 2014. Wilson was not charged with a crime. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported a man was shot in the ankle. A witness said seven to nine shots were fired from a passing car.

1 dead, 1 injured in I-170 shooting

HAZELWOOD, Mo. -- One man is dead and another is hospitalized in critical condition after a shooting on a suburban St. Louis interstate highway. The shooting happened about 1:30 a.m. Sunday on Interstate 170 in north St. Louis County. Officers discovered a black Infiniti SUV on the shoulder of the road with several bullet holes in it. The driver, 32-year-old Brian Valley, was pronounced dead at the scene. A 31-year-old passenger is hospitalized with gunshot wounds to the arm and back. Police say the men had been at a high-school reunion party when an altercation occurred. No arrests have been made.

Police: Kiss to inmate smuggled in heroin

BOWLING GREEN, Mo. -- A St. Louis woman is accused of trying to smuggle heroin to a northeast Missouri jail inmate through a kiss. Bettye Wilson, 66, is charged with delivery of a controlled substance at a correctional facility and distribution of a controlled substance. Wilson was arrested July 19. A probable-cause statement says she planned to pass heroin balloons from her mouth to an inmate at the state prison in Bowling Green by kissing him. Instead, she swallowed five balloons of the drug. Authorities say the balloons were recovered the next day. Wilson faces arraignment Wednesday.

Mother of man sues over jail suicide

CARTHAGE, Mo. -- The mother of a Joplin man who claims her son's suicide in a Carthage jail was captured on video surveillance has filed a federal civil lawsuit accusing the police department and the city of negligence. Charles Roderique, 26, was being held at the jail on charges of driving under the influence, careless and imprudent driving and driving with a suspended license. He was found in his cell Aug. 3, 2013, hanging from an upper bunk and was taken to a local hospital, where he died two days later. The wrongful-death lawsuit, filed July 29 in U.S. District Court in Springfield on behalf of Patricia Roderique, says Charles Roderique twisted his bedsheet into a ligature in full view of a video surveillance camera. The lawsuit says the video shows "his body convulsed" for a while. No one assigned to monitor the surveillance video noticed until about a half-hour later, the lawsuit says, and no one tried to untie the sheet and revive him until two firefighters arrived. The lawsuit, which seeks a jury trial and at least $2 million, alleges authorities failed to take proper precautions although they were aware Roderique was mentally ill.

-- From wire reports