Murder charge filed in death of a southwestern IL police officer on St. Louis bridge
The Madison County State’s Attorney on Friday announced charges in the death of Brooklyn Police Officer Brian Pierce Jr.
Caleb Campbell, 22, of Florissant, Missouri was charged with first-degree murder in addition to counts of reckless homicide, aggravated fleeing and attempt to elude a police officer, failure to report an accident involving personal injury or death, and failure to stop after an accident involving a death.
Campbell was arrested and is being held at the Madison County Jail. His bond has been set at $2 million.
Pierce, 24, was struck and killed by a motorist fleeing police on the McKinley Bridge early Wednesday morning. He was on the bridge attempting to deploy spike strips to stop the vehicle at about 3 a.m. on Aug. 4.
Illinois State Police said Pierce’s death was preceded by a police chase out of Brooklyn. The red Dodge Charger that hit him was later found abandoned in Missouri.
Prosecutors allege that Campbell was behind the wheel of the Dodge.
According to the charging documents, Campbell drove “at excessive speeds, disregarded traffic laws and evaded attempts by peace officers to stop his vehicle and in doing so struck Brian Pierce Jr., knowing such act created a strong probability of death or great bodily harm ...”
Campbell has no prior police record in St. Clair or Madison counties, according to online circuit clerk records.
Pierce had been with the Brooklyn Police Department for about seven months, said Capt. Antonio White. He made a 100-mile commute from his home in Carbondale where he had previously served on the fire department.
Members of the Venice Police Department are “devastated by the loss of a family member,” said White on the day of Pierce’s death.
Earlier charges
Campbell’s is the second arrest related to the events that morning.
Less than an hour after Pierce was hit, 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.
Four people in the Kia were taken into custody. One of them, Darrel M. Lane, 32, was charged with two counts of aggravated assault and one count of aggravated fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer.
It’s not believed the two incidents are related. Lane had previously been tried and acquitted of a triple murder in a west Belleville hair salon in 2005.
This story was originally published August 20, 2021 at 4:40 PM.