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Jakob T. McKeage, in a jail jumpsuit, scrawled an apology in pencil and read it aloud in front of Associate Circuit Judge Julia Lasater at the Clayton courthouse.

“I made a mistake,� McKeage told the judge. “When I get out, I will learn more about the law and how to properly follow it.�

McKeage, 22, asked to be sent home on house arrest as he awaits trial on the first-degree assault charge. The assistant prosecutor, Eric Kinnaw, called it an “unprovoked attack� and said McKeage is dangerous and should remain jailed.

The judge at Friday’s bond-review hearing refused to lower McKeage’s bond, keeping it at $100,000 cash. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for next month.

The victim, a man around 30, was seriously injured and received a blood transfusion after the Aug. 12 attack outside the Imo’s at 510 Airport Road.

The victim had asked for food at closing time, and employees told the man there was no food. McKeage told him to get a job, Ferguson police Officer Candace Woodard wrote in court papers. McKeage armed himself with a kitchen knife to take trash to the dumpster, and confronted the homeless man again, Woodard said.

When the victim asked for food and a drink, McKeage lunged at him and the victim slapped him, police said. The victim ran and McKeage caught up with him and stabbed him, police said. McKeage then returned to the kitchen, cleaned the knife and put it back in the knife block, Woodard said.

Court records show the victim has had numerous run-ins with police in North County suburbs over the years, mainly for municipal violations such as trespassing or shoplifting.

McKeage lives in the 600 block of Carson Road in Ferguson. He has no criminal record — “I never even got a speeding ticket,� he told the judge in court. McKeage said he had worked two jobs, at Imo’s and also at Dollar Tree, and had applied to take two business courses at the community college.

“I would like to one day tell the man I am sorry,� McKeage said in the letter. “No one deserves that/how I reacted.�

He said he was fearful because the homeless man had been yelling at his co-workers.

The store manager at Imo’s told a reporter Thursday that the homeless man had been stopping by for about three years, asking for a cup water in the daytime mainly. Sometimes, she said, he would appear high and take off his shirt and run around the parking lot. Some customers, the manager said, have complained they were afraid to get out of their cars in the parking lot because he was there.

The manager, who asked that her name not be used, said McKeage “is a good guy� who worked two jobs and was trying to earn enough money to fix his car. She watched store surveillance that captured the confrontation on the parking lot, and McKeage chased after him only a few feet, she said.

The pizza shop on Airport Road is a few blocks from where the homeless man is accused of breaking a window to a garage in October and stealing a weed eater. He put the weed eater in a grocery cart and wheeled it down Airport Road, even trying to sell it to the same man he stole it from, police said. The homeless man was previously charged with burglary after police say he stole a television in Ferguson.

A judge released the homeless man from jail in the burglary case in January on his promise to appear in court and ordered him to stay 1,000 feet from the garage where the burglary happened. He also was supposed to work with the Urban League’s job placement program, court records said.

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