ST. CROIX — A routine morning run on Black Friday turned violent for a St. Croix resident of more than 40 years after she was attacked, leaving her with a couple broken bones and stitches in the back of her head and on her deeply cut hand.
The unprovoked attack also led the victim and her husband to have a deep frustration with what they described as stalled progress in the investigation by the Virgin Islands Police Department.
The couple spoke with Marcellina Ventura-Douglas, WTJX NewsFeed radio reporter, in person on the condition that they not be identified, citing concerns about their privacy and safety. They are now speaking out not only for themselves, but for the safety of the entire community.
The victim, who runs every morning except Sundays, was making her way along La Grange Road just after 6:30 a.m. on the day after Thanksgiving.
“I heard this car speed past me,” she said, recalling that she had questioned why someone would be out so early and driving so fast.
The vehicle then abruptly backed into a nearby driveway, leading the victim to assume the woman driver was simply turning around. The situation escalated as she jogged past.
“She bolted out of the car, and I heard her coming after me,” the victim said. “I looked over my shoulder, and she was wielding this big bottle — not a beer-bottle-sized bottle but a big bottle — and screaming and just whacked me over the head.”
The blow knocked her to the ground. While defending herself using a walking stick she carries to fend off stray dogs, the victim said her attacker hit her several times before dropping the bottle, retrieving it again, and then returning to her vehicle to flee the area. The victim said she was able to call her husband since her phone did not break when she fell, adding that he picked her up and took her to the police station.
Her husband, a St. Croix resident of more than 50 years, said receiving the call from his wounded wife was “horrifying.”
“I couldn’t get in the car fast enough and drive through the area to get to where she was,” he said.
He drove his wife directly to the police station, where emergency medical technicians were called. After an ambulance arrived to assess her wounds, the victim declined transport and later saw a doctor to determine whether surgery was needed.
“I had to have my wedding ring cut off so they could do more X-rays and all this kind of thing,” she said, adding that doctors decided against surgery with the hope that the injuries would heal naturally. “I’m just being extremely careful because I can’t touch anything even lightly. It really hurts.”
As she continues her physical recovery, the Virgin Islands Police Department has reason to believe 39-year-old Cleo Taylor is the person who attacked her during an altercation captured on the surveillance camera of a nearby resident, according to Glen Dratte, VIPD spokesperson. He said a white Mercedes Benz identified in the video footage was subsequently impounded from Taylor’s residence a couple hours after the incident.
Additionally, Dratte said Taylor is a person of interest who is wanted in connection to a hit-and-run incident in which a white Mercedes struck a pedestrian walking at 5:55 p.m. on October 23 in the parking lot of Pueblo in Estate La Reine. He said police are investigating other reports in reference to a white Mercedes striking pedestrians throughout St. Croix.
Police initially posted a wanted poster of Taylor on its Facebook page on November 28, announcing that she was wanted for third-degree assault. A subsequent post and press release issued on November 30 named her as a person of interest in the early-morning Black Friday assault as well as in the incident in the Pueblo parking lot.
READ MORE: VIPD impounds white Benz suspected in hit-and-run incidents, Cleo A. Taylor named person of interest
While police pursue Taylor as a person of interest, the married couple described a delayed investigative process.
“We thought we’d have some progress made when they called us in to look at a photo lineup,” the victim said.
After waiting on a police officer, she said she was told the lineup could not proceed because the only available photo of Taylor was used on the wanted poster and therefore ineligible for a photo array.
“In the way he spoke to me, I was under the impression he was going to call us back later that day or maybe at worst the next day,” she said, adding that she never heard back from the officer.
The victim said she is not sure what the protocol is for police to proceed with its investigation but stressed that it is holding things back.
“We’re worried that other people in the community are going to be hurt by her because she has already hurt other people before she hurt me,” she said.
Intensifying her alarm was an interaction she witnessed when she and her husband were waiting at the police station. Taylor’s daughter was there, speaking urgently to police.
“She said ‘my mother’s bipolar and schizophrenic but doesn’t take her meds, so she really needs to be tamed,’” the victim said.
Governor Albert Bryan Jr. weighed in on the VIPD’s effort to apprehend Taylor.
“Clearly, this woman has proven that she’s a danger to others, so she has to be taken off the street,” he said. “I myself am frustrated to know like why haven’t we gotten that done yet, but the commissioner is giving me regular updates about what they’re trying to do.”
Attempts to contact Dratte for an update on the investigation have been unsuccessful, and messages were not returned as of publication time.
Despite the trauma and ongoing investigation, the victim and her husband continue returning to the beach to relax with friends and facilitate her healing process. She said they don’t even have to organize any parties.
“We just come here on Sundays and we relax,” she said. “Nobody’s here at first and we hang out and we play Scrabble, and then our friends start coming along and hang out with us. It’s just such a wonderful way to — reemphasizing what a wonderful community we live in.”
