A 32-year-old St. Louis County woman is behind bars on a $100,000 cash-only bond after prosecutors say she used her car to run over and drag her own brother during a fight over money on Greenmoor Gardens Court. Markeitta R. Butler is charged with first-degree assault or attempted first-degree assault and armed criminal action following the August 28 confrontation near Florissant, Missouri.
According to FOX 2, the dispute began when Butler demanded money from her brother and threatened to go to his home and fight him. Court records reviewed by the station say she followed through, driving to his house and pulling him into an argument that turned physical inside her vehicle, where the two pulled each other's hair. The station reports that St. Louis County police and prosecutors documented the allegations in court filings after reviewing surveillance video of the incident.
From there, the confrontation escalated dramatically. Per the outlet's account of court records, Butler held onto her brother's dreadlocks and drove in reverse while gripping his hair, then dragged him to the ground and underneath the driver's-side tire of her car. Officers who responded later found the victim's dreadlocks on the ground nearby, and he was left with a tire tread mark across the upper part of his body, the station reports.
Victim Struck a Second Time as Fiancée Intervened
The violence didn't stop there. Court records cited by the station indicate Butler then drove around a neighborhood roundabout and headed toward her brother again at a high rate of speed, appearing to try to hit him a second time; he managed to avoid being struck again. The victim's fiancée attempted to break up the fight during the ordeal, per the same account.
Butler eventually left the scene, though she later contacted her brother again, the station reports. Her brother was taken to a hospital, where he was placed in a neck brace. According to the outlet, he was unable to walk following the assault and needed assistance with basic functions.
Judge Cites Danger to Victim and Community
A judge found probable cause for Butler's arrest and set her bond at $100,000 cash only, ruling that she posed a danger to both the victim and the community, the station reports. Butler remains in custody at the Buzz Westfall Justice Center in Clayton, the 1,400-bed facility that houses adult felony detainees for St. Louis County, according to the St. Louis County Department of Justice Services. Because her bond was set as cash-only, the county's standard 10% deposit option does not automatically apply and would require a circuit court judge's specific authorization before Butler could be released without posting the full amount.
Butler's bond review hearing is scheduled for Monday at the 21st Judicial Circuit Court in Clayton, where a judge will reassess her bail conditions, public safety risk, and any potential non-monetary release terms ahead of trial, per Rose Legal Services. Her preliminary hearing is set for October 5. Felony cases originating in unincorporated St. Louis County, including Greenmoor Gardens Court near Florissant, are prosecuted by the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney's Office, which maintains a dedicated Domestic Violence Team and Violent Crime Unit for handling serious family disputes and violent felony cases.
What Butler Could Face if Convicted
Under Missouri Revised Statutes § 565.050, first-degree assault is normally a Class B felony punishable by 5 to 15 years in prison, but it escalates to a Class A felony carrying 10 to 30 years or life imprisonment when the offense causes serious physical injury. Given the severity of her brother's injuries, prosecutors may pursue the harsher Class A classification.
The armed criminal action charge adds further exposure. Missouri Revised Statutes § 571.015 makes armed criminal action an unclassified felony that must be filed alongside an underlying felony committed with a dangerous instrument or deadly weapon, carrying a mandatory minimum of 3 years without eligibility for probation, parole, or conditional release, served consecutively to any sentence for the underlying assault. Missouri law allows vehicles to be treated as dangerous instruments when used intentionally or recklessly to strike, run over, or drag a victim, which is the legal theory prosecutors appear to be relying on here.
Aggravated assault cases like this one are tracked statewide as major index violent crimes through the Missouri Uniform Crime Reporting Program, maintained by the Missouri State Highway Patrol, giving public safety agencies a broader statistical picture of how often family disputes turn violent across the region.
