Two St. Louis-area policemen are charged with serving as police officers without state licenses.

One of the officers, Lamont Aikens, was involved in a chase from Upland Park into the city of St. Louis that turned into a fatal crash. Aikens not only was not licensed by the state to be a policeman, he had at least 18 arrests on a criminal record. He pleaded guilty to drug possession in 1993, the same year he was convicted of assault and stalking and pleaded guilty to felonious restraint in 2000. He faces a wrongful death suit for the crash.

The village’s former acting police chief, Henry Smith, is charged with knowing Aikens and the other officer, Kenneth Miner although they did not have valid licenses.