ST. LOUIS — A man was arrested and charged two years after police said he caused a crash that killed an innocent driver while fleeing St. Louis County police.
Marc O. Gardner, 28, was arrested Tuesday after a St. Louis police SWAT team executed a search warrant at a home on the 5400 block of Dewey Avenue. He was charged with second-degree murder, armed criminal action and resisting arrest.
Prosecutors also charged him with two counts of unlawful possession of a firearm after police found guns in his home while executing the search warrant. Gardner, a convicted felon, is not allowed to own guns.
According to court records, police said Gardner sped away from St. Louis County officers who tried to pull him over on May 4, 2022, on the parking lot of River City Casino as part of a drug investigation. A short time later, he ran a red light at River City Casino Boulevard and South Broadway and T-boned a pickup truck, police said.
The truck's driver, 44-year-old Derek Pratt, was ejected and died at the scene.
Gardner and a passenger in his car were hospitalized after the crash. Gardner later left the hospital before he could be arrested, police said.
Gardner was being held without bond at the St. Louis City Justice Center.
