Staveion Durham, a 27-year-old male from Black Jack, Missouri, found himself at the center of a tragic sequence of events on the night of October 12, 2020. He was riding a motorized scooter near the intersection of Riverview Boulevard and Switzer Avenue in the North Pointe neighborhood of St. Louis when he ran out of gas. While stranded at the scene, he witnessed a chaotic car crash in which a dark sedan collided with another vehicle before slamming into a utility pole.
Acting as a Good Samaritan, Durham approached the wreckage and pulled the driver from the mangled car, intending to offer assistance to the crash victim.
The situation turned violent moments after the rescue when the driver, identified as Marlon E. Hampton, became hostile. According to investigators, an altercation broke out at the scene, which had drawn a crowd of onlookers. During the commotion, Hampton seized a firearm from the waistband of another individual present. As Durham stood by, unarmed and reportedly with his hands raised in a gesture of surrender, Hampton discharged the weapon. Durham was struck by gunfire that traveled through his hand and into his chest. A friend of Durham, who had arrived to bring him gasoline, exchanged fire with Hampton, but Durham had already sustained critical injuries.
Emergency responders transported Durham to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead shortly after arrival. The suspect, who had initially been taken to a hospital for minor injuries sustained in the crash and released, was later identified by police. Authorities revealed that Hampton had fled the scene after the shooting. The investigation determined that Durham was an innocent bystander who lost his life while attempting to help the very person who killed him.
In January 2021, prosecutors charged Marlon Hampton with second-degree murder, armed criminal action, and stealing a firearm. The legal proceedings continued for over two years until Hampton reached a plea agreement with the St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office, avoiding a jury trial. On August 31, 2023, a circuit judge sentenced Hampton to thirteen years in prison for the murder of Staveion Durham. He also received a concurrent four-year sentence for an unrelated incident involving fleeing from police in a stolen vehicle in 2019.
