A St. Peters man has pleaded guilty in a 2024 crash that killed a St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department officer.

Ramon Chavez-Rodriguez, 25 , admitted in court Tuesday that he was drunk and had drugs in his system when he lost control of his vehicle on eastbound Interstate 70 near North Grand Avenue around 8:30 a.m. Sept. 22, 2024. The SUV spun and hit officer David Lee, who was on the highway responding to another crash. Lee was pinned between two vehicles, then thrown several feet. He died in surgery later that day.

Rachel Lippmann / St. Louis Public Radio

St. Louis Circuit Judge Madeline Connolly will sentence Chavez-Rodriguez at a later date. Under Missouri law, he faces a maximum of 15 years in prison. He was on probation for a 2020 domestic violence conviction at th

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