Family and friends mourn young officer killed on duty

By Jenna Rae

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    BROOKLYN, Illinois (KMOV) — Law enforcement agencies are looking for the person responsible for hitting and killing a Metro East officer Wednesday morning.

Officer Brian Pierce of the Brooklyn Police Department was one of the several officers responding to a call that led to a police chase. Pierce was on the McKinley Bridge setting up spike strips to stop the driver of the red Dodge Charger. The driver kept going, hitting and killing Pierce. The driver left the Charger on the Missouri side of the bridge in St. Louis and the suspect is still on the run at this time.

Officer Pierce was a jack of all trades. Not only was he a police officer in Brooklyn, he was also a volunteer firefighter in Makanda, Illinois, a part-time officer at other southern Illinois departments, and he ran his own business.

“He may have been 24 but the knowledge my son had was so much older than that,” Tammy Pierce said. Officer Pierce’s mother said losing her son at such an early age has been overwhelming. “I still can’t believe it. I really can’t.”

Officer Pierce served the Brooklyn community as an officer for the last eight months. On top of that, he regularly made the near two-hour drive back to Makanda, Illinois to volunteer at its fire department.

“It’s a great thing to see someone that had that much passion for the job. It’s a great thing that someone wants to go through that much training and is wiling to dedicate their life to service,” Josh Lipe explained.

Lipe is the assistant fire chief at Makanda Township Volunteer Fire. He said he and Officer Pierce weren’t just co-workers, they were friends. “Brian was a good kid and he brought a unique passion for service and the world is lesser for him not being in it,” Lipe said.

Lipe says Pierce was always eager to share his hopes and dreams with him. Most of them focused on serving his community through law enforcement.

“We spoke often of his future, to see where it could go and where he was going to end up, and I’m very saddened we were robbed of him,” Lipe continued.

In the eight months Officer Pierce spent serving the Brooklyn community, all of his fellow officers spoke very highly of him. They say he was someone you could count on.

“Pierce was a very fine young man, very energetic. When he come to work he put a smile on your face. He’s an officer you’d love to have on your team and your unit,” Brooklyn Police Captain Antonio White said.

The Backstoppers, a non-profit organization that helps fallen law enforcement families, is planning to assist the Pierce family for the officer’s funeral. If you’d like to donate to the family separately, you can click here.

The Brooklyn Police Department will escort the officer from the Madison County morgue in Wood River to the Meredith Waddel funeral home in Herrin at 11:30 a.m. Friday.

“Keep the pierce family in your thoughts and prayers, his extended police and fire family. There’s gonna be a lot of grieving and hopefully a lot of healing,” Lipe said.

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