ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Friday, Mar. 07 2008
ST. LOUIS — A car thief who said he didn't want to go back to jail engaged a
St. Louis police officer in a gun battle Thursday that left the officer out of
bullets and using his police car as a shield, police said.
Dozens of shots were fired, but no one was injured in the incident about 11
a.m. in the 1500 block of Irving Avenue.
A 23-year-old man with a robbery conviction was arrested after he jumped into
the officer's patrol car and drove away, crashing minutes later into a duplex
at Goodfellow Boulevard and Switzer Avenue, police said. Charges were pending.
Police Chief Joe Mokwa said the shootout capped a morning of incidents —
including car thefts and thefts of credit cards — that may be related. Mokwa
said as many as four other people involved were being sought.
St. Louis police said the incident began when a man used keys taken in a
robbery last month to steal a red Ford Mustang in the 5600 block of Waterman
Boulevard.
An officer on his way to that address after the car owner reported the theft
spotted the stolen Mustang at Page Avenue and Goodfellow, police said.
The officer followed the car, which sped away and crashed at Hodiamont Avenue
and Martin Luther King Drive. The driver ran off but was later spotted by the
officer in a gangway. Ordered to show his hand, the man pulled a pistol and
began shooting, police said.
The officer used his police vehicle to shield himself after he fired all his
ammunition, including the rounds in his gun and on his belt, police said. The
car thief continued firing as he climbed into the officer's patrol car and
drove away. Other officers arrived and also fired.
Police chased the stolen police car until it hit the duplex at Goodfellow and
Switzer. The driver ran west on Switzer until he was arrested, police said. A
pistol was found at the scene.
Mokwa said the officer involved in the shootout was shaken but uninjured.
The man arrested told police he had fired at the officer because he had been in
prison and didn't want to go back, Mokwa said.
Sonya Murray, who owns the home struck by the police car, said she rents it to
a woman who works nearby at a day care center.
Murray came by to see the destruction. Cracks spread through the living room
and kitchen of the home, apparently from the foundation shifting. The front
bore a 3-by-4-foot hole.
"I'm just distraught," she said. "I'm angry at the guy who hit my house."