Body cam released, officers cleared in fatal shooting after a police chase in Wentzville

Authorities have cleared two officers of crimes in the shooting death of a man who led police on a chase down Interstate 70 near Wentzville.

St. Charles County prosecutor Tim Lohmar justified the Jan. 17 police shooting of Sonny J. Vincent because the officers believed they and others were in "substantial risk of serious physical injury or death," he wrote to Wentzville police Chief Paul West in a letter released Thursday.

"(Vincent) possessed, displayed, and appeared to attempt to fire his gun at the officers," Lohmar wrote.

In body camera footage, one of the officers who fired his weapon can be heard yelling, "Drop the gun," three times just seconds before several shots ring out.

Officers with a St. Charles County task force had attempted to pull over a 2011 Black Chevrolet Silverado around 10:45 p.m. Jan. 17 near Interstate 70 and Highway 79. The driver, later identified as Vincent, sped off and led police 12 miles west to Wentzville.

The shooting happened as Vincent and his passenger, Amber Smith, got out of the car and were running away, at which point police said Vincent pointed a gun at them. Two officers — one from St. Charles, one from St. Peters and both in their 30s — shot at him. Vincent died at a hospital.

The videos, obtained by the Post-Dispatch on Friday, capture the pursuit and shooting, when Vincent's truck is stopped in a grassy median. He and Smith can both be seen getting out of the truck on the passenger side, while officers approach with their guns drawn from the driver's side.

The two run across a roadway, at which point Vincent raises his right arm, with something in his hand pointing at police, before officers call out, then fire shots and Vincent falls down.

"The use of deadly force was objectively reasonable given the facts and circumstances presented to the officers," Lohmar wrote in the letter.

Smith, 37, was uninjured and eventually arrested a few blocks away. She has been charged with unlawful use of a weapon, possession of a controlled substance, forgery, resisting arrest and second-degree tampering with a motor vehicle.

Court documents indicate Smith had a handgun, counterfeit money, six credit cards with different names, one social security card that wasn’t hers, and 0.3 grams of methamphetamine.