ST. LOUIS — Two St. Louis police officers spoke Friday about the harrowing moments when a man shot them in Soulard last year.

Officer Lucas Roethlisberger said he and his partner ran toward a crashed truck after a brief chase, hoping to help the driver. Instead, they were met with gunfire.

“It felt like I was hit by a truck,” Roethlisberger said. “I didn’t know if I was going to make it.”

Cortez Sipes, 38, was sentenced Friday to 20 years in prison for shooting Roethlisberger and his partner, Officer Sean Miskovic. Sipes had pleaded guilty weeks earlier to seven felonies, including assault and resisting arrest, in agreement with prosecutors.

The incident began on February 2, 2023, when the two officers attempted to stop a Ford F-150 in the 800 block of Julia Street in the Lasalle Park neighborhood near Soulard.

The officers, in a marked SUV, turned on their lights and sirens, but the Ford sped away, crossed the Soulard market courtyard and then crashed.

Sipes got out of the vehicle and began running, firing shots from an extended magazine. The officers returned fire, hitting Sipes in the ankle. Roethlisberger held him on the ground until another officer arrived to handcuff him.

Police found five grams of fentanyl, as well as individual bags of crack cocaine and Xanax pills in his truck.

On Friday, Sipes and his fiancée apologized to police. They said he struggled after the death of his 17-year-old son and suffered from mental illness.

Officer Miskovic said he forgave Sipes. He said he has drawn on his Catholic faith in recent months and prayed for Sipes and his family.

He brought to the hearing a Bible that he hoped to give to Sipes. It contained an inscription: “I love you Cortez. Don’t lose hope.”

Roethlisberger explained the impact the shooting had on his family. He had already been shot once while on duty, in 2010 during a traffic stop on Enright Avenue. The bullet severed his carotid artery, destabilizing his spine and causing a debilitating stroke.

He returned to work about nine months later and was honored as the department’s 2010 Officer of the Year.

Roethlisberger said what hurt him most about being shot by Sipes was the fact that he also shot Miskovic.

“My name is Lucas Roethlisberger,” he said, concluding his testimony. “I am the officer who arrested you and put you in prison for 20 years. May God have mercy on your soul.”