UPLANDS PARK - Lamont Aikens had a uniform, a badge and a patrol car last year when he chased a speeding car into St. Louis, where it crashed and killed a mother of four.

The one thing he didn't have was a license to work as a police officer, according to charges filed in St. Louis County on Tuesday.

In addition, court records show that Aikens has criminal convictions and at least 18 arrests on his record, including an arrest in 1994 for murder. No charges were filed in that case.

Aikens, 35, of Florissant, and Kenneth Minner, 57, of Uplands Park, were each charged Tuesday with knowingly holding a commission of a police officer without a valid license. It was unclear whether Minner had any connection to the fatal crash, although court records indicate he was questioned.

Henry Smith, 44, of Dellwood, who was acting Uplands Park police chief at the time of the crash, was charged with knowingly granting the commission of a peace officer without a valid license.

The charges are misdemeanors, punishable by up to six months in jail and a fine up to $500.

Family members of Lashanna Snipes, who died in the crash on Dec. 3, 2009, expressed relief that Aikens had been charged.

"If you look at the rap sheet he had, you know he shouldn't have even been behind the wheel," Jasmien Jones, one of Snipes' nieces, said Tuesday.

In June 2008, Aikens sought to expunge his arrest record with the St. Louis Police Department. A judge denied his request, saying he was ineligible to have his record cleared because at least one of his arrests resulted in a conviction. That conviction, for third-degree assault and stalking in 1993, resulted in a year of probation.

Aikens also pleaded guilty to drug possession in 1993, and in 2000 he pleaded guilty of felonious restraint. He received probation in both cases.

The other arrests include forcible rape, first-degree assault, armed criminal action, unlawful use of a weapon and assaulting a law enforcement officer. There are no details in court records of the arrest for first-degree murder, except that he was arrested on Aug. 3, 1994, and warrants were refused.

In the crash that killed Snipes, Aikens was driving an Uplands Park police car that was chasing another car. The car being chased ran a stop sign and slammed into Snipes' car. Snipes' sister, Ayanna Jones, and three children in the car were also hurt in the crash.

Family members have a wrongful death lawsuit pending in St. Louis Circuit Court against Aikens and the Uplands Park police department. The suit says the department knew or should have known Aikens wasn't a licensed officer at the time of the crash.

The suit also said that Aikens pursued the car for more than two miles outside Upland Park's jurisdiction and that the police car did not have its lights or siren on. Aikens chased the car for a misdemeanor speed violation, a pursuit that is against St. Louis County Police pursuit policies, the suit says.

The driver of the car that was being chased, Derion Henderson, 17, faces charges of second-degree murder and tampering for his role in the crash.

Jones, Snipes' niece, said the wrongful death lawsuit was filed because it seemed no one cared about the pain the family suffered because of the crash.

"We're really grateful that (Aikens) has suffered some type of consequence," she said. "But we still haven't gotten any type of apology from anyone, and there's still four children without a mother."

The charge against former acting police chief Smith alleges that he hired Aikens in September 2009 and continued his commission through February 2010 knowing Aikens wasn't validly licensed.

Minner's charge says he worked as a police officer in Uplands Park knowing he didn't have a valid license from December 2009 until July 2010.

Harlan Smith, the current chief of police for Uplands Park, declined to comment because he wasn't aware charges had been filed. "I knew things were in the makings," he said.

Harlan Smith said all three men still worked for the village. Aikens is a bailiff but is on administrative leave because of the investigation into the crash and subsequent events. Henry Smith is a lieutenant with the police department but is on medical leave. Minner is a code enforcement officer.

Spokesman Mike O'Connell of the Missouri Department of Public Safety, which oversees the Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission, said the charge against Henry Smith meant he could face punishment by the licensing board, including revocation of his police license.

Uplands Park, a village with only 460 residents on Natural Bridge Road, has had a police department for only about five years. But the department has been connected with a series of embarrassing headlines in its short history, including a jailer charged with assault, a former police chief accused of threatening to kill one of his officers and, last year, an officer arrested by the FBI on suspicion of robbing and sexually assaulting prostitutes — in the police station.