Man accused of crashing McKinley Bridge roadblock stood trial for 2005 Belleville murders
The St. Louis man accused of speeding through a roadblock on the McKinley Bridge as law enforcement officials investigated the death of Brooklyn police officer Brian Pierce Jr. was acquitted for the triple murder at a Belleville hair salon in 2005.
Darrel M. Lane, 32, was arrested and charged with the March 2, 2005, stabbing deaths of hairdresser Michael Cooney and two of his customers, 79-year-old Doris Fischer and 82-year-old Dorothy Bone. The two women were sisters.
A St. Clair County jury found him not guilty in 2010.
On Monday, Lane was charged with two counts of aggravated assault and one count of aggravated fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer.
On Wednesday, Aug. 4 around 3 a.m., Pierce, who had been with Brooklyn police for less than a year, was struck and killed on the McKinley Bridge by a red Dodge Charger as he attempted to position stop sticks to flatten the car’s tires during a police chase.
Less than an hour later, at 3:49 a.m., while the bridge was closed so investigators could work the scene, a gray Kia Optima prosecutors say was driven by Lane bypassed roadblocks “at a high rate of speed.”
He hit multiple police vehicles “and nearly struck multiple officers” before stopping, according to an Illinois 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.
Lane was treated for a non-life threatening gunshot wound St. Louis University Hospital and released to police custody. Lane is currently being held in St. Louis awaiting extradition to Madison County.
Three others in the car also were arrested, but no charge had been filed as of Monday afternoon.
According to the Madison County State’s Attorney’s office, the aggravated assault charges are class 3 felonies and punishable with up to 25 months of probation and/or 2 to 5 years in prison. The aggravated assault fleeing or attempting to elude a peace officer charge is a class 4 felony, and is punishable with up to 30 months of probation and one to three years in prison.
“Eventually his car was stopped only by running into a police officer. So, it was a very, very, risky situation,” Madison County State’s Attorney Tom Haine told a FOX2 News reporter. “We believe the facts will show multiple police officers had to dive out of the way to protect themselves.”
The driver who struck and killed Pierce remains at large, though the red Charger was later recovered in Missouri. Police have not said whether they believe Lane is connected to the driver of the Charger or to Pierce’s death.
Lane was just 17 years old when he was charged with the three Belleville murders based on bloody fingerprints found in an SUV. His defense attorneys argued that print was left in a dried blood droplet that was already in the vehicle.
Lane would have been 16 at the time of the crime.
The three victims were found stabbed to death at Cooney’s home based hair salon that was located at 7813 W.Main St.. It was a customer who was scheduled the following morning who discovered the bodies.
Lane was held at the county jail for four years on $3 million bond before the jury found him not guilty in November 2010.
Six years later, a second man, Samuel L. Johnson, was charged with the deaths. He was scheduled to appear in a St. Clair County Courtroom Tuesday, but he had died from COVID-19 as he awaited trial.
Initial information from law enforcement indicated that the man charged on Monday for breaching the roadblock was two years older than the Darrell Lane accused in the Belleville murders. But the birth date they provided matched Lane’s St. Clair County court records and police mug shots from the two alleged crimes appear to depict the same person.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch confirmed that they are the same person through interviews with Lane’s family members.
This story was originally published August 11, 2021 at 7:26 AM.
