MADISON COUNTY, Ill. — A police officer in the town of Brooklyn was killed early Wednesday on the McKinley Bridge while trying to stop a car fleeing from a nightclub in the Metro East region of southern Illinois.
Brian Pierce Jr., 24, who was identified by his family, was struck by a car around 3 a.m. while trying to deploy stop sticks on the bridge to flatten the fleeing car's tires, said Lt. Michael Lewis of the Illinois State Police. He had been with the force about nine months.
Police are still searching for the driver who hit the officer.