The Associated Press
LEBANON, Mo. — A former Lebanon police officer has been charged with two felonies in connection to the shooting of woman during a high-speed chase last April.
Douglas E. Duerden, 56, faces charges of first-degree assault and felony armed criminal action. The former police sergeant, who had been with the department 29 years, is accused of causing serious physical injury to Shannon Rogers when he shot her.
Duerden, a resident of Eldridge, remained a city employee for four months after the shooting. City officials declined to comment on whether the officer was paid during that time. He retired in August.
Special Prosecutor Theodore A. Bruce of the Missouri attorney general’s office filed the charges Thursday. Duerden pleaded not guilty to the charges during an arraignment Thursday. The judge set a $5,000 cash bond.
According to records from the investigation, Duerden was on duty April 21 and attempted to stop a stolen vehicle in which Rogers and a 5-month-old infant boy were passengers. The man driving the vehicle, Roger Speer, did not stop after Duerden displayed his emergency lights and siren, and a pursuit followed.
Duerden later admitted to the police chief, Sam Mustard, that he fired his weapon several times at the stolen vehicle with intentions of killing the people inside, according to the records.
Rogers was shot in her upper arm. The child and Speer apparently were not harmed from the shooting. But officers used a Taser on Speer after the vehicle stalled and he tried to run from them.
Because Duerden was a Lebanon police officer, the investigation into the shooting was turned over to the Missouri State Highway Patrol.
Dan Nash, an investigator with the Highway Patrol, said in his probable cause statement that “No circumstances existed in this case that would have authorized Sergeant Duerden to fire his weapon at the fleeing vehicle in an attempt to kill any occupants.”
The Police Department also conducted an internal investigation into the shooting, but no disciplinary action was taken.