A St. Louis police officer was shot in the neck just after midnight Dec. 3 in the 1600 block of North Broadway Avenue while responding to a call. Two days later, on Saturday, a Moline Acres police sergeant died after he was struck by another police car during a traffic stop. The officer who was shot is expected to recover.
Moline Acres Police Sgt. Herschel Turner had stopped a reportedly stolen car around 12:20 a.m., Saturday, at Chambers Road and Lance Avenue in Moline Acres, police told Fox 2. Bellefontaine Neighbors police officers came to assist the sergeant and that’s when a patrol car struck Turner.
“It was just one of those freak accidents that happened, when vehicles are moving and you’re trying to move the vehicle, normally wins because you’re not faster than the vehicle. He was just doing his job,” Moline Acres Police Chief Gregory Moore said in a conference news conference published by KSDK.
Turner had served with the department since 2015, Moore said.
“He was a very dedicated, honorable man,” Moore said during the news conference.
Turner was a 22-year veteran of law enforcement and leaves behind a wife and three adult daughters, according to Backstoppers Inc., an organization that provides financial assistance to families of first responders who die in the line of duty in parts of Missouri and Illinois.
In St. Louis, Chief John Hayden said officers responded to a disturbance call in the area at 12:20 a.m. and were searching for the suspect outside of their cars when they “suddenly came under gunfire.”
He said a projectile was removed from the 32-year-old officer’s neck and he is expected to survive. It appeared to be a shotgun blast. The officer, who’s name was not released to the public, was treated for his injury at a hospital and has been discharged
Hayden said the officer has been with the force for just under two years. As of Tuesday morning, police were still trying to identify a suspect or suspects in the shooting
With disturbance calls being the most common that come into the dispatch center, Hayden said it means officers arrive without much information about the situation and they must investigate to determine what happened and who was involved.
He also expressed his disturbance at the pattern of violence against officers in the city this year.
“I think the message, certainly for tonight, is that this is our 10th officer since June who has been under assault. Our officers have been trying to do their jobs on several instances this summer and this is the 10th officer that’s been struck by gunfire and it is very disturbing that officers really can’t do their job without becoming under gunfire.”
Hayden said he’s been on the force for 34 years and can’t remember a time like this, when police officers are at risk of being shot without making contact with someone first.
“I think the message is that the violence that we are experiencing in St. Louis is something that 57 major cities have seen in gun violence this year. It is a very disturbing trend, but it is nationwide,” he said.