James Scott (criminal)
| James Robert Scott | |
|---|---|
| Born |
November 20, 1969 Quincy, Illinois |
| Criminal charge | Causing a catastrophe |
| Criminal penalty | 20 years to life |
| Criminal status | imprisoned in Jefferson City |
| Spouse(s) | Suzie Scott (divorced) |
| Conviction(s) | November 4, 1994 (overturned February 25, 1997; reinstated April 30, 1998) |
James Robert "Jimmy" Scott (born November 20, 1969) was convicted of causing a massive flood of the Mississippi River at West Quincy, Missouri as part of the Great Flood of 1993. He is currently serving a sentence of 20 years to life in a Missouri prison.
Scott grew up in Quincy, Illinois. By his twenties, he had already racked up an extensive criminal record and served time in six prisons. While most of these arrests were for petty burglary, they also included two arsons. In 1982, he burned down his elementary school, Webster Elementary School in Quincy. In 1988, he burned down a garage and set several other fires, netting him a sentence of seven years in prison.
By 1993, Scott was out of prison on parole for the 1988 fire. He worked at a Burger King in Quincy and spent most of his nights drinking heavily. He lived in the nearby town of Fowler with his wife Suzie.
The Scotts, along with several other residents living in and around Quincy and Hannibal, spent much of mid-July reinforcing the West Quincy levee. By July 16, the river had stopped rising and had actually dropped 1.5 feet (46 cm) below the levee. That night, however, the levee unexpectedly failed when the river burst through its main stem. The resulting flood inundated 14,000 acres (57 km2) on the Missouri side of the river. In one of the more spectacular incidents, a barge was sucked into the levee and slammed into a gas station, causing a fire.
The flood washed out all of the bridges in the area—the only links across the river for 200 miles (320 km). While no one was killed, many people on the Missouri side of the river had to drive 80 miles (130 km) to either St. Louis or Burlington, Iowa, fly or take a ferry to get across the river for several weeks after the waters receded. One major bridge, the Bayview Bridge, was out of service for 71 days. Several businesses in West Quincy were also destroyed.
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