Lashanna Jones Snipes

How they died

Vehic/Purs

Lashanna Snipes was killed when a 16-year-old driver being chased by auxiliary officer Lamont Aikens and Sgt. Janet Riley hit her car. The officers pursued Derion Henderson for driving 46 mph in a 30 zone. The officers initially claimed they stopped the chase at St. Louis Avenue. However, witness statements contradicted the police version. Aikens and Riley later said they resumed the chase after Henderson hit a witness' car. An attorney for Snipes' family said that claim was only made after the officers learned of the witness' statement. Henderson, who was sentenced to 17 years after pleading guilty to second-degree murder and other tampering, said the police cruiser bumped him from behind, sending him into Snipes' car. Prosecutors charged Aikens with knowingly holding the commission of a police officer without a valid license, a misdemeanor. In 2013, Circuit Judge Dennis Smith acquitted Aikens. In June 2012, a St. Louis jury returned a $3.1 million verdict against Uplands Park for Snipes' death.

Why we remember them

This record exists so that Lashanna Jones Snipes, and all who are named in this archive, are never reduced to a number.

References & sources