Prosecutor won’t charge Columbia police officer involved in February shooting

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Columbia police officer won't face charges for shooting at a man accused of driving a speeding truck toward the officer and the officer's partner earlier this year.

Callaway County Prosecuting Attorney Chris Wilson explained in a June 23 letter to the Missouri State Highway Patrol that he felt the officer acted lawfully when they shot at Keith Brodie.

Boone County deputies suspect Brodie of shooting a gun toward someone at a home on Southwest Way on Feb. 20 after breaking in to find a motorcycle key. Responding law enforcement, including Columbia police, began chasing Brodie that night throughout the city and county. Officers tried to set up spike strips at Route UU and Nebo Cemetery Road, but the police department said Brodie drove around them and toward one of the officers, which prompted a police officer to fire at him.

The officer involved was not named in the letter.

Wilson's letter said video of the incident shows Brodie "had no intention of stopping" and that the officer heard Brodie's vehicle "accelerate as it came toward the officers."

Police the night before the shooting had tried to arrest Brodie on an unrelated warrant on Rollins Road. The department said Brodie sped off, hitting an officer with his vehicle as he left. Wilson said this knowledge, and the knowledge of the reported shooting justified the officer in using deadly force.

"The officer also made clear that he was very concerned for the safety of his partner, who had exited the patrol vehicle on the driver's side and was in, or near, the path of Brodie's accelerating vehicle when the officer fired upon Brodie's vehicle," Wilson said. "It should be noted that none of the shots fired at the vehicle by the officer struck Brodie."

Brodie was arrested in May in Syracuse, New York on the Boone County warrant and another warrant from New Jersey. He faces charges of assault, burglary, unlawful use of a weapon and resisting arrest.

Wilson is also reviewing an officer-involved shooting that took place in March. Curtis Haas died during a standoff with Columbia police on Sun Court. The department claimed Haas shot at officers that came to his home while investigating him for child molestation, and that officers returned fire.

Officials have not released how Haas died, but the department found him dead inside the home after an hours-long standoff.