A “vile” video captured the moment a man approached a dying veteran, who had fallen over on a bus while suffering a heart attack. The suspect pretended to be a “good Samaritan,” but the guy really had malicious intentions, shocking detectives who had “never seen anything like this.”
Ray Bass, an Air Force veteran, was taking a city bus to his doctor’s appointment at the McGuire VA Medical Center in Richmond, Virginia, shortly before 11 a.m. on a Thursday morning when he suddenly suffered a heart attack. As the 66-year-old military veteran lay dying on the floor, he was approached by a man, who initially appeared to be helping — but a “vile” video captured the “good Samaritan’s” real intentions.
After Bass suffered the medical emergency while in transit, fellow riders informed the driver that a passenger had collapsed. The bus driver pulled over, evacuated the bus, and called 911. One young man, however, stayed on the bus to “help.” In surveillance video from the bus, the young man is seen approaching Bass as he lay motionless on the floor, initially appearing to try to assist the older gentleman.
“Pops, what yo name is, pops?” the man, later identified as 20-year-old Damontea Chappell, can be heard saying in the footage before it takes a sickening turn. “I’m trying to find your wallet,” Chappell is caught saying on the video as he’s seen searching the pockets of the unconscious man. “Where is your wallet?”
Sadly, Damontea Chappell wasn’t a “good Samaritan” at all. Instead, he was captured on video robbing Ray Bass as the former Desert Storm sergeant died of a heart attack, shamelessly stealing money out of the veteran’s wallet during his final moments of life, according to The Blaze.
The bus driver for the Greater Richmond Transit Company said that Chappell told him he was assisting Bass so he wouldn’t be alone, but the vile video from the surveillance camera proved otherwise. Rather than assisting in any way, the suspect is seen taking the man’s wallet and helping himself to the money inside.
According to Richmond Police detective Greg Russell, Chappell stole between $200 to $400 from the dying man’s wallet while pretending to help him. “He was acting as though he was a good Samaritan when all the while, he was a wolf in sheep’s clothing,” Russell explained, referring to the 20-year-old thief, WRIC reported.
When police officers arrived at the scene, Chappell kept up the “good Samaritan” act, telling cops he was “terrified” and “had never seen anyone die,” Russell recalled. “I’ve been a police officer for 30 years, and I’ve never seen anything like this,” the detective added. “This might take the cake. This is a vile incident that should not have happened. This man deserved respect and was totally disrespected.”
Indeed, this was a man who deserved respect. A former aircraft mechanic, who enjoyed “fishing, football, especially the Redskins, and spending time with family,” according to his obituary, Air Force Sergeant Raymond Bass was laid to rest with military honors. He is survived by three daughters and six grandchildren as well as at least one niece who thought of him as a father.
“My dad is deceased, so he was like a dad to me,” Bass’s niece, Cassandra Bass, explained, speaking about her late uncle. “A very devoted family man, he’d do anything for his loved ones,” she added. “Like most men, he kind of wanted to keep the health thing hidden,” she said. “So we didn’t worry, and I think it’s why the sudden death has hit us so hard.”
After authorities reviewed the surveillance camera footage, a warrant for Chappell’s arrest was issued. He turned himself in and was ordered held without bond. Meanwhile, Bass’s family didn’t hold back in lambasting the thief, calling him “the scum of the earth,” likening him to the “bottom feeders,” and saying, “there’s a lot out here amongst us.”
“Calling him ‘pops’ as if he knew him. He wasn’t trying to help him at all,” Cassandra said, according to WTVR. “You could see he was actually kicking him to make sure he wasn’t moving and dead before he went into his wallet,” she continued. Cassandra wasn’t alone in her assessment of Chappell. Bass’ common-law wife, Renee Scott, did not mince her words about the thief, either.
“Whoever the person is who went in Ray’s wallet as he lay there deceased, has no soul and represents the devil,” Scott said before Chappell was identified. “God is stronger, and he will find you,” she warned. Indeed, it takes a special kind of evil to rob a dying man while pretending to “help” him, but God wasn’t the only one watching. A camera captured it all, exposing Damontea Chappell for the heartless monster he is.
Source: Tap Worthy Happenings
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