ST. LOUIS COUNTY • An innocent motorist whose pickup was broadsided last week by a car fleeing St. Ann police remains hospitalized in an induced coma, relatives say.
Keith S. Lamkins, 37, of St. Peters, suffered a collapsed lung and broken ribs, leg, wrist, arm, hand and collarbones, said his mother, Michelle Lamkins. He remains in the intensive care unit at Mercy Hospital St. Louis in Creve Coeur, where he was critical but stable; doctors have put him in an induced coma while he heals, she said.
He is on a respirator and fighting bacterial infections, she said. He has undergone surgery to repair injuries to his abdomen and will undergo additional surgeries, she said. He has no medical insurance, and his teenage daughter Destiney Lamkins has set up a fund on gofundme.com to help raise money to cover expenses.
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Keith Lamkins was one of two innocent motorists injured the morning of Jan. 22 when a man in a stolen car tried to outrun police at speeds topping 100 mph. The stolen car broadsided Lamkins at St. Charles Rock Road and Lackland Road about 10:30 a.m. A convenience store surveillance camera recorded the collision. It shows Lamkins’ blue Dodge Ram pickup overturning after getting hit.
Michelle Lamkins said this week that her son, the father of two teenagers, lived with her in St. Peters but had been in the St. Ann area to bid a job. He does carpentry and yard work.
She said she was angry at the suspect fleeing police.
“I can’t believe that there is so much disrespect in the world,” she said. As for police, she said: “They did the best they could.”
The second innocent motorist who was hurt is Kara M. Grant, 20, of Overland. Police say she was riding in a Buick Century driven by Perry Grant, 50. The suspect’s car slid across the intersection after hitting Lamkins’ vehicle and struck the front of the Grants’ car. Kara Grant had moderate injuries and was treated at DePaul Health Center in Bridgeton. Her family doesn’t have a published phone number and could not be reached for comment.
The suspect, Ronald R. Brandy, 20, of Wellston, was charged with assault, armed criminal action, assault on a law enforcement officer, armed criminal action, assault second degree, tampering with a motor vehicle and resisting arrest by fleeing. He was held in lieu of $100,000 bail.
His female passenger, Dyesa T. Holiday, 20, of St. Louis, was not charged. St. Ann Police Chief Aaron Jimenez said the woman didn’t have anything to do with the offenses. He said she repeatedly told Brandy to stop as he tried to evade police.
Brandy suffered a ruptured diaphragm and broken bones, including a broken pelvis, police said. Holiday had a broken arm, leg and wrist.
The pursuit started on Interstate 70 in St. Charles County when a Missouri Highway Patrol trooper tried to stop the stolen car and the driver took off, heading east on I-70. The Missouri Highway Patrol trooper called off the chase, but a St. Ann police officer later spotted and pursued the car on St. Charles Rock Road.
At one point, Brandy drove the car at an officer who was outside his car to deploy spike strips, Jimenez said. The officer wasn’t hit.
Police said they found clothing that had been shoplifted at a store in Lake Saint Louis after the crash.