O’Fallon police pursued a car for a felony violation early Sunday, and the chase ended in a collision in Bel-Ridge, killing a 25-year-old Florissant man and sending three other people to the hospital with serious injuries. Jahlil Ali Campbell-Williams, 30, now faces multiple felony charges after investigators say he refused to stop for two separate law enforcement agencies before slamming into another car near Springdale Avenue.
A Chase That Crossed Jurisdictions
According to First Alert 4, O’Fallon Police began pursuing Campbell-Williams’ car shortly before 1 a.m. Sunday for a felony violation near Drennan Parkway and I-70. The chase continued eastbound on I-70, but O’Fallon officers called off their pursuit once it reached the area of Mid-Rivers Mall, the station reported. As reported by FOX 2, Campbell-Williams was serving probation for a felony at the time of the incident.
The pursuit didn’t end there. A Missouri state trooper spotted the car driving at high speed on I-70 near Cave Springs Road and attempted to pull it over, per the same account from First Alert 4. When the driver failed to stop, the trooper began a new pursuit that carried the chase deeper into St. Louis County.
Deadly Collision on Natural Bridge Road
At 1:08 a.m., the car exited I-70 onto Natural Bridge Road and headed south, First Alert 4 reported, citing the timeline laid out by investigators. About a minute later, the car struck another vehicle near Springdale Avenue, in what FOX 2 reported as Bel-Ridge, Missouri — a crash that killed one person and left three others with serious injuries.
One of the passengers in the second vehicle was ejected and died at the scene. He was identified by First Alert 4 as a 25-year-old man from Florissant. The 24-year-old man driving that car and two other passengers, ages 24 and 22, were seriously injured and taken to the hospital, the station reported.
Suspect Faces Multiple Felony Charges
Campbell-Williams was taken into custody at the scene, and a passenger riding in his car was also detained and taken to an area hospital to be treated for injuries, according to First Alert 4. He was formally charged Sunday and remains held in the St. Louis County Jail, the station reported.
FOX 2 reported that the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office charged Campbell-Williams with first-degree involuntary manslaughter, aggravated fleeing a stop or detention resulting in death, second-degree assault, and four counts of aggravated fleeing a stop or detention causing physical injury.
A Painful Echo of a 2019 Pursuit
Sunday’s crash recalls another fatal chase in the St. Louis area. In July 2019, a Jeep Cherokee fleeing police struck a Chevrolet Tracker, killing passenger Reniece Randle, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. A lawsuit filed against the city of St. Louis over that crash was later dismissed by a circuit judge, and the newspaper reported that a Missouri appeals court found that three St. Louis police officers did not cause the fleeing suspect to crash into the woman’s vehicle.
