Officer killed on St. Louis bridge had been with Brooklyn Police less than a year
(Editor’s note: An earlier version of this article incorrectly reported that the Major Case Squad of Greater St. Louis was investigating this case. The article was corrected at 5:35 p.m. Aug. 4.)
Police have released the name of the Brooklyn officer who was killed when he was struck by a car involved in a chase early Wednesday.
Patrolman Brian Pierce was manning a roadblock on the McKinley Bridge around 3 a.m. when he was hit by a red Dodge Charger driven by a crime suspect, Illinois State Police said.
Illinois State Police are investigating.
Pierce had been with the Brooklyn Police Department for about seven months, said Capt. Antonio White. The department is “devastated by the loss of a family member,” said White, who asked that the community keep Pierce’s family and colleagues “lifted up in prayer.”
“He was a great young man ... very enthusiastic, the person you love to have on your team. He’d be there for you, even on his days off,” White said. “We are going to work along side the Major Case Squad and the Illinois State Police on this investigation. ...
“He’s very young, like I said, a very good young man. He always had your back. Police is what he loved. He’d arrive an hour, two hours before his shift just to get his day started. It will be a very great loss for us, for the community of Brooklyn and we extend our condolences to his family.”
Illinois State Police said Pierce’s death was preceded by a police chase out of Brooklyn. Pierce was on the McKinley Bridge deploying spike strips to stop the suspect’s Dodge Charger, which was later found abandoned in Missouri.
Less than an hour later, about 3:49 a.m., while the bridge was closed for investigators to work the scene, a gray Kia Optima drove through the roadblocks “at a high rate of speed.” It hit multiple police vehicles “and nearly struck multiple officers,” according to a state police release.
The Madison County Sheriff’s Department says an exchange of gunfire with officers followed and that the driver of the Kia was hit and crashed into two state police cruisers.
All four occupants of the Kia were taken into custody, including the driver, who was transported to an area hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
State Police said it had no other information to release pending further investigation. Police would not confirm what started the chase with the Dodge Charger or what crime the driver may have committed.
This story was originally published August 4, 2021 at 11:17 AM with the headline "Officer killed on St. Louis bridge had been with Brooklyn Police less than a year."
