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September 27, 2014
Family and friends of a homeless man who died after being savagely beaten outside a University Drive convenience store are turning to Huntsville City Hall for answers.
During Thursday night’s Huntsville City Council meeting, Help Our Homeless Veterans & Citizens founder Rusty Loiselle said Mark Pridmore was repeatedly punched and stomped by a “group of thugs” on Sept. 4 after asking for 50 cents.
Eight to 10 men joined the assault in the Mini Mart 2 parking lot across from the University of Alabama in Huntsville, said Loiselle.
Pridmore, 40, slipped into a coma the next morning and later died at Huntsville Hospital.
Police charged 18-year-old Berhe Xavier Starling with manslaughter earlier this month, but the other men involved remain free.
“Hate crimes like this cannot go unpunished,” said Loiselle. “When will Mark Scott Pridmore get true justice?”
Loiselle and other homeless advocates said they feel Huntsville police haven’t taken the case seriously enough because Pridmore was homeless.
“He was still a human being,” said Rodney Cole, executive director of the Jefferson County-based Committee to Protect the Homeless.
Huntsville Police Chief Lewis Morris said all the evidence in Pridmore’s death has been turned over to the Madison County District Attorney’s Office.
Loiselle said the incident began when Pridmore asked two passersby for 50 cents. The men became aggressive; Pridmore pulled out a box cutter to defend himself.
The men left but returned to the gas station a few minutes later with several friends who ganged up on Pridmore, said Loiselle.
“The DA says it could be six, eight months before they get the autopsy report,” he said. “I understand that there’s a backlog, but, come on, this was a murder.”
Crystal Riggins, Pridmore’s stepdaughter, said Pridmore battled alcoholism for much of his life but “would give his last bite of food if it would help another.”
“The homeless are humans, and they have a story,” said Riggins.
