St. John man arrested after brutal assault leaves elderly dementia patient with brain bleed

A St. John resident was taken into custody Thursday following a violent confrontation that left an elderly man with severe brain injuries, authorities said. Kahleem Powell, arrested at The Blind Donkey bar in Cruz Bay, initially told police he had acted in self-defense during an encounter on September 12 near Hill Street and Frank Street.

Powell said he was retrieving a parcel at the dock when Edwin Correa, carrying a stick, tapped his vehicle window and struck him. A witness corroborated that Correa swung first. However, surveillance footage from the area painted a starkly different picture of the incident.

The video showed Correa approaching Powell's white Honda CR-V and striking at him with the stick as Powell exited the vehicle. Powell blocked the blow with his left arm, then threw Correa to the ground. What followed was a sustained assault: Powell struck Correa repeatedly in the face with both fists, kicked him in the shoulder, and delivered a kick to his face. Powell then went to his car, retrieved his phone, returned to where Correa lay motionless, and appeared to film him before landing another kick to the man's head.

First responders found Correa unconscious with heavy bleeding from his mouth, severe facial swelling, and head trauma. Medical staff at Schneider Regional Medical Center on St. Thomas identified an acute traumatic subarachnoid hemorrhage of the right parietal lobe, an intraparenchymal brain hemorrhage measuring 6 by 7 millimeters, and significant brain swelling. The severity of the bleeding necessitated his transfer by air to an off-island neurological trauma centre.

When Detective Jermaine Carty and other officers located Powell on the bar balcony four weeks later, he resisted. Powell shouted "How can I be arrested when I defended myself?" and "I ain't scared of y'all, let me go, y'all can't beat me" as officers attempted to restrain him. He refused to hand over his phone and struggled before being handcuffed.

Powell was processed at the Leander Jurgen Command on St. John, transported to St. Thomas, and held at the Bureau of Corrections on $26,500 bail. He is scheduled to appear Saturday before Magistrate Judge Simone M. VanHolten-Turnbull for an Advice of Rights hearing in case ST-2026-CR-00260.

He is charged with third-degree assault inflicting serious bodily injury, aggravated assault and battery on an elderly or incapacitated person, elder abuse, aggravated elder abuse, and resisting arrest. Powell is presumed innocent until proven guilty.