urbanSTL

Charges filed in St. Louis death caused by car fleeing police

By Patrick M. O'Connell

ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

12/10/2009



ST. LOUIS — A 16-year-old boy was charged Wednesday with involuntary manslaughter in the death of a mother of four who was killed last week by a car trying to elude police.



The suspect, charged as a juvenile, also faces four counts of second-degree assault for the dead woman's four passengers, who survived with injuries.



Police said he was the driver of a Dodge Stratus that ran a stop sign, causing the wreck. They said he and his passenger ran from the scene. The passenger has been identified, police said, but there is no evidence to support a charge against him.



The incident started with an attempt to stop a speeder in Uplands Park, the village's attorney said Wednesday. He said officers had backed off before the collision at Martin Luther King Drive and Goodfellow Boulevard in St. Louis about 7 p.m. Dec. 3.



The lawyer, Doug Rudman, said two Uplands Park officers in one patrol car initially chased a car going 46 mph in a 30 mph zone, but had "stopped an active pursuit and were maintaining a safe distance" several blocks behind when the crash happened.



Lashanna Snipes, 34, was fatally injured. Her sister, son, daughter and another child relative were seriously hurt in the crash, police said. Officials said Snipes was driving when the fleeing car, going south on Goodfellow, hit her Pontiac Grand Am.



Snipes, of St. Louis, worked in medical services and was studying to be a registered nurse. In addition to her children, she is survived by her husband, Alex Snipes.



"We lost someone who meant so much to us," said her niece, Jasmein Jones. "She was just a beautiful person, outside and in."



In an interview Wednesday, Jones complained, "The (police) couldn't have been following protocol." She added, "It's ridiculous. They weren't doing what they were supposed to do. It's their mistake."



But Rudman said, "Preliminarily, it appears everything was done by the police appropriately."



He said the officers, whose names, ages and experience levels were not released, were on administrative leave, which is standard procedure, pending a review of their actions. Uplands Park is a community of about 460 people along Natural Bridge Road, a short distance west of St. Louis.



Rudman said that the officers had called off the pursuit and that the fleeing car left the roadway several times and ran five stoplights and four stop signs before the collision. The reasons for an initial pursuit were acceptable under department procedures, he said.



The lawyer said Snipes' death was "tragic, unfortunate and unacceptable."



He added, "Those who want to blame the police for doing an intervention forget the fact of why they had to do an intervention in the first place. Responsibility has to be borne by the individuals in the vehicle who tried to get away from the police."