Yale S. Dierker, 23, of St. Louis County was charged today (Jan. 9) with four felonies after allegedly stealing a delivery truck and driving through the Guffey Elementary School campus during a police pursuit, authorities report.
The school, one of 11 elementary schools in the Fox C-6 School District, is off Hwy. 141 in the Jefferson County portion of Fenton. It was on lockdown for about 10 minutes during the police chase.
At 9:30 a.m. Thursday (Jan. 10), the man allegedly entered the Pier 1 store in the Gravois Bluffs shopping center in Fenton and tried to steal a female employee’s purse, telling the woman to give him her purse and implying he had a gun but not displaying one, St. Louis County Police reported in a written statement.
Then, the suspect ran out of the store and left in an AraMark delivery truck he allegedly stole from the parking lot, the report said.
The officer followed the suspect in the truck south on Hwy. 141.
During that pursuit, the suspect drove the truck onto the Guffey Elementary School parking lot, and then a tow truck driver who also happened to be on the school lot saw what was happening and used his tow truck to block the suspect’s truck from getting from 13th Street back out onto Hwy. 141, and the delivery truck struck the tow truck, according to the report.
After the accident, a police officer approached the delivery truck, and the suspect tried to flee, but the officer used a stun gun on the man and took him into custody, the report said.
The tow truck driver was not hurt, St. Louis County Police Officer Shawn McGuire said.
He said the suspect was transported to an area hospital for evaluation.
Today, the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office charged Dierker with robbery in the first degree, a class A felony; burglary in the first degree, a class B felony; stealing a motor vehicle, a class C felony; and resisting arrest by fleeing and creating a substantial risk of serious injury, a class D felony.
A class A felony is punishable by 10 to 30 years in prison; a class B felony carries a penalty of five to 15 years. A class C felony is punishable by up to seven years and a class D felony by up to four years.
Dierker was being held today on a $75,000 bond, St. Louis County Police reported.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol is handling the case involving the accident and is seeking charges against Dierker for suspicion of driving while intoxicated, assault and property damage, according to its website.
Fox acting Superintendent Tim Crutchley said school personnel noticed the police pursuing the truck in the parking lot and the school immediately “went into lockdown,” which means students were locked inside classrooms.
The school’s exterior doors are always kept locked, Crutchley added.
He said law enforcement officials let school staff know when the man was in custody and then the lockdown ended.