St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner has charged St. Louis County Police Officer Preston Marquart with involuntary manslaughter in the second degree, related to the death of 12-year-old Akeelah “Kee Kee” Jackson.
On October 14, Marquart struck Jackson with his police car as she was crossing the street at around 6 p.m. County police officials have said publicly that Marquart was trying to catch up to a vehicle to make a traffic stop, but that Marquart did not have his lights or sirens on when he hit Jackson. Jackson died on November 12.
“The charges follow an exhaustive and detailed investigation in collaboration with our partners in the 6th District and Traffic Divisions of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department,” Gardner said in a statement.
Marquart is still employed at the county police department. He will be suspended without pay, which is consistent with the Department’s Conduct and Discipline Manual, a county police spokesman said.
“Akeelah and her loved ones continue to be in our thoughts and prayers, just as they have been since that tragic day,” said Sgt. Benjamin Granda, spokesman for the county police department.
Granda said an internal investigation into Marquart’s actions is still underway.
The Ethical Society of Police, a police association that advocates for racial equality, has been calling for Marquart to be charged since December — claiming that he failed to turn on his lights and siren for 32 seconds as he pursued a car for a traffic violation.
“It takes one second to turn on the lights of a police car, an additional second to turn on the siren,” stated Heather Taylor, president of the Ethical Society of Police, in December. “That officer also drove 59 miles per hour in a 30-mile-per-hour zone before killing Akeelah.”
Upon hearing the news about the charge, Taylor said that it was an “appropriate charge.”
“I doubt the officer that killed Akeelah with his reckless actions wanted to hurt a child,” Taylor said in December. “However, a child has lost her life, with her family left to pick up the pieces from his actions. The officer must be charged and held responsible.”
Officers are taught in the Police Academy to turn on their lights and siren to be recognized as an emergency vehicle, she said.
“We, as officers, are not given a grace period to speed,” Taylor said. “Just once, I’d like to see a police department immediately hold us accountable when our actions cost someone their life.”
This story is developing.
