Accused in fatal crash has extensive record

Jarrad Dubose, a 21 year old resident of Cool Valley, has amassed such a long record over the past three years that we needed a spreadsheet to sort it out. Dubose has amassed a total of 28 municipal offenses over that time, and with the exception of three for which the court date has not yet arrived, has failed to appear in court on any of them. Each of these offenses generated a warrant, and yet, not a single one of the seven departments which encountered him saw fit to arrest him, demand bond, or in any other way hinder his continued scofflaw motoring.

In addition, Dubose was on probation for a 2020 case in Florissant, in which he pleaded guilty to three felonies, two counts of domestic assault and unlawful use of a weapon. His probation started in July 2021, after which he failed to appear on 21 separate charges. Yet on August 16, 2023, the court records in that case indicate that he was compliant with probation. One can only wonder how many warrants are required to be consider non-compliant.

In October 2020, somebody filed for an order of protection against Dubose, presumably the victim of the domestic violence. He failed to appear at the hearing, and a full order was issued against him in late October. Unfortunately, the sheriff was unable to locate Dubose to serve him with the full order.

An observant reader will see the problem here. For those who do not, here it is: When we fail to arrest people with outstanding warrants, each additional offense creates a stronger incentive to flee from a traffic stop, as the next one might be the one that doesn’t let you drive away. In the case of Dubose, it is even more serious: He should have been tagged with a violation of his probation. But that means he’ll have to serve 5 years in prison.

Unfortunately, after browsing thousands of court records, it is clear that Dubose is not an anomaly. For a typical session of Ferguson Municipal Court, 80% fail to appear. The court shuffles some paper, and moves on with their business. And should the police encounter this fugitive at a traffic stop, they give him another ticket, and let him drive away. The result is a steadily growing group of people who know from experience that tossing a ticket in the trash is a safe and effective practice. There is no consequence to driving recklessly, skipping insurance, even driving on a revoked license. How many people will have to die before the courts and police departments start taking their own charges seriously?