RICHMOND HEIGHTS, Mo. – An alleged serial huffer was caught in the act by a customer at a Missouri Menard’s store in January, getting high from compressed cans of air in the aisles.
The customer, who asked only to be identified as Chris, shared the video with KTVI with the hope of raising awareness. He also shared the video with law enforcement.
“He just starts spraying air and I knew immediately what he was doing,” said Chris.
In the video you see the man shake as he sniffs in the inhalant. He then laughs, screams throughout the store, and later bursts into an incoherent song.
The man in the video is wearing the same jacket and black and white hoodies that he was arrested in time and time again for the same offense. St. Louis County police said they’ve arrested the man 17 times since the start of 2018 for huffing, but he’s never been formally charged.
The St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office said there are no laws against huffing in Missouri. Thirty-seven other states have laws prohibiting inhalants, according to the National Inhalant Prevention Coalition. Some of those laws prohibit the sale to a minor, others outlaw certain ingredients and violators could face fines or jail time.
The video shows the man leaving the store with an armload of canned air.
Chris said he went to the register and paid for the cans, as he huffed them at the register.
“He’s still doing it in front of everyone down there and as soon as a cop walked in, he stopped and cashed out with the can of air and walked out, but I don’t know what happened after that,” he said.