Man Killed While Fleeing From Police

A man who was fleeing from a police officer in Warren County was killed late Sunday night when he was ejected from the vehicle he was driving, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

Ted D. Fitzgerald, 27, St. Peters, was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash near the intersection of Veterans Memorial Parkway and South Strack Church Road in Wright City.

Police reported Fitzgerald was driving a 2006 Chevrolet 1500 pickup eastbound on Veterans Memorial Parkway inside Truesdale city limits when the officer observed a traffic violation.

The patrol said Fitzgerald then fled from the Truesdale officer at a high rate of speed and had failed to negotiate a curve prior to the crash reported at 10:33 p.m.

In a statement released Monday, Truesdale Police Chief Andy Huston said the officer activated his emergency equipment in an attempt to perform a traffic stop, but that Fitzgerald continued accelerating and failed to yield.

The officer was in the process of terminating the traffic stop and was approximately a quarter-mile behind Fitzgerald when he lost sight of the truck’s taillights, according to Huston. As the officer approached the Strack Church Road intersection, he observed the vehicle off the roadway.

According to the patrol’s preliminary crash report, Fitzgerald was ejected when the vehicle struck a guardrail and overturned. The vehicle then struck a guardrail on the east side of South Strack Church Road and continued across Veterans Memorial Parkway where it struck another guardrail. The vehicle came to rest on its wheels in a field, the patrol reported.

Fitzgerald’s body was located in the grass median between Interstate 70 and Veterans Memorial Parkway, also commonly referred to as the South Service Road. Fitzgerald was pronounced dead at 11:51 p.m. by Warren County Coroner Roger Mauzy. He was not wearing a seat belt, the patrol reported.

The area where Fitzgerald crashed is a couple of miles east of the Truesdale city limits.

State troopers were at the crash site Monday reconstructing the accident. An investigation is ongoing.

Online court records show Fitzgerald had been convicted of multiple drug offenses, including possession and distribution of a controlled substance. He was under the supervision of a state parole and probation office in St. Louis, according to the Missouri Department of Corrections website.