EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – A Florissant man who struck and killed a Brooklyn police officer while fleeing other cops will spend the rest of his life in prison.
A Madison County judge sentenced Caleb Campbell to a term of life imprisonment, plus 13 years, for the death of Brian Pierce Jr. Campbell, 24, was convicted in December 2022 of first-degree murder.
That sentence consists of natural life for first-degree murder, 10 years for failure to report an accident involving injury or death, and 3 years for failure to stop following an accident involving injury or death.
Pierce was killed in the line of duty around 3 a.m. on Aug. 4, 2021. He had just deployed a spike strip on the McKinley Bridge in an attempt to stop a fleeing Dodge Charger when he was hit by that vehicle. Pierce was 24.
The Dodge Charger was later located abandoned on the Missouri side of the McKinley Bridge.
Prosecutors with the Madison County State’s Attorney’s Office said Campbell was fleeing another Brooklyn officer, who had attempted to stop Campbell for traffic violations. Campbell also had a handgun in the vehicle at the time, as well as an active arrest warrant in Missouri.