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The SUV was going well over 80 mph in a 55 mph zone, the officer said.

Instead of stopping, the Durango drove off, cutting off cars and speeding up, according to state documents.

The vehicle was going so fast, the officer was eventually ordered to stop chasing. But a license plate reader caught the car’s plate.

The owner? A Pagedale cop.

Now, Missouri authorities have filed a petition against 35-year-old Theo C. Reynolds’ peace officer license, detailing the traffic stop in Fairview Heights.

Reynolds was an off-duty Pagedale police officer at the time of the chase. And his peace officer license had already been put on probation by the state — after he tried to steal a shirt in 2019 at the South County Mall, according to the state’s filing.

He is no longer with the Pagedale Police Department.

Reynolds’ defense lawyer, Justin Whitton, said his client would not comment on the petition, filed in mid-May and uploaded to the state record system on Tuesday.

Reynolds was hired by the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Lambert Airport Police Department in June 2018 and was issued his peace officer license that December. Just less than a year later, in November 2019, Reynolds tried to steal a shirt from the Dillard’s department store at the South County Mall. The state filed a petition against Reynolds for that incident in August 2021.

While in the store, Reynolds apparently “displayed his ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Airport Police badge and department-issued firearm,â€� the filing says.

He had put the shirt down his pants, police reported, and left the store.

A loss prevention team had recognized Reynolds from a previous shoplifting incident, the filing says.

“Outside of the store, the store manager confronted (Reynolds) about the missing shirt,� it continues. “There was a visible bulge in (his) pants.�

Reynolds admitted that he stole the shirt when he was caught. He was charged with petty larceny but got the charge reduced to littering and pleaded guilty. The court put him in a petty larceny offender program.

In April 2022, the state put his peace officer license on a five-year probation because of the incident. He was hired by Rock Hill police that same month, according to the Post-Dispatch salary database.

Rock Hill police did not respond to a request for comment for this story.

In late January 2024, he was hired by the Pagedale department, according to salary records.

Pagedale police Chief Anthony Huckleberry said his agency knew about Reynolds’ license probation when it hired him. But Huckleberry noted that such discipline does not automatically disqualify a candidate — probationary periods on peace officer licenses happen for a variety of reasons and are fairly common. He said this is because the Missouri Department of Public Safety has a strict standard on what constitutes grounds for probation.

The state uses probation, he said, to determine if the behavior is a pattern.

Reynolds worked for the Pagedale department for more than a year before the Feb. 16 incident in Fairview Heights. Reynolds was driving so fast the officer could not keep up with him, the new filing says, and was eventually ordered to stop chasing the Durango.

But a license plate reader caught the car’s plate, and records indicated Reynolds owned the car.

At first, the filing says, Reynolds admitted to officers that he owned the car but said he had been at his girlfriend’s apartment at the time of the chase.

During that interview, police said he “nervously and repeatedly asked how this was going to affect his employment at Pagedale Police Department.�

Two days later, he talked to police again. He denied any involvement but then told officers he was the only one with a key fob to the Durango.

He was charged Feb. 20 with speeding and fleeing or attempting to elude a peace officer. Those misdemeanor charges remain pending, according to online court records.

The day after he was charged, the state filing says Pagedale police found him in violation of department standards for not notifying the agency of the charges.

Huckleberry, the Pagedale chief, said his department opened an internal investigation. He also notified the state’s Peace Office Standards and Licensing program.

“We did exactly what we were supposed to do,� the chief said. “He was not a good fit for us. He resigned, and that was kind of it.�

Reynolds left the department March 10. A POST spokesman said he is not currently employed with an agency.

Now, the Missouri attorney general’s office is seeking to discipline Reynolds’ peace officer license for the second time.

If an Administrative Hearing Commission judge rules there is cause for discipline, the director of the state Department of Public Safety will then decide whether to put Reynolds’ police license on probation, on suspension or revoke it altogether.

Reynolds will have the right to appeal the decision in circuit court.