Suspect In East Alton Taxi Cab Battery/Home Invasion Is Identified, In Custody

EAST ALTON - A suspect in the assault of an area taxi driver/home invasion on December 30 in East Alton, has been identified by several sources, East Alton Police Major Christian Cranmer said Tuesday.

Cranmer said the suspect in the taxi driver/home invasion case is presently in custody at the Alton Police Department, pending other potential charges. Cranmer said on Wednesday he hopes to announce charges against the man in this case from the Madison County State’s Attorney’s Office.

Major Cranmer said several anonymous and sources on record identified the man after a story/video appeared on Monday on Riverbender.com.

“Through the help of citizens we were able to identify the man and he is also facing pending charges in other jurisdictions,” Cranmer added. “He is in custody in Alton on something unrelated.”

A taxi cab driver was seriously assaulted by a passenger at 6 p.m. on December 30, 2020, in East Alton, then later the man who committed the assault entered the home of a woman on Goulding Avenue.

The man was in desperation and pleaded with the frightened woman to help him, while her dog barked at him. The man told the woman someone was trying to kill him and the police were looking for him, then thankfully, he fled out the front door.

Cranmer said the odyssey started when the man contacted a cab to take him from East Alton Plaza to St. Louis. The man sat in the cab's front seat and when he found out it was a $50 estimate for a trip to the Greyhound Bus Station in St. Louis, he became out of control with anger. The man seriously beat the helpless cab driver with a barrage of punches.

The cab driver contacted the police and went to a local hospital for treatment of abrasions and swelling after taking several blows to his face and body.

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