THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, January 25, 1995 TAG: 9501250453
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: JON FRANK, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 98 lines
A national expert on police pursuits said Tuesday that state troopers should have stopped chasing a speeding driver when he swung off an interstate highway into Norfolk, where his van hit a car, killing two people.
The accident brought the death toll of police pursuits in Hampton Roads to at least 16 in as many years. More than 340 people were killed nationally in 1993 during such high-speed chases, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in Washington. Nine of those were in Virginia.
``The police cars are the fuel that fuels the rocket,'' said Richard N. Turner, chairman of the National Academy for Professional Driving in Dallas. The company provides driver training for police departments across the nation.
Turner said that Saturday's chase should have ended as the van driven by Arnold O. Peterson left limited-access Interstate 264 at Brambleton Avenue and entered an urban environment with its cross-streets and traffic lights.
``It does not sound to me like a good pursuit,'' said Turner. ``They know better than that. That is not a good deal. It sounds like supervisor should have stepped in.''
About 1 1/2 miles after Peterson got off the interstate, his van struck a BMW carrying William L. Rosbe, a 50-year-old Richmond lawyer, and his friend, Terrie G. Timms, 40, of Virginia Beach. Norfolk prosecutors said they would charge Peterson, of Virginia Beach, with two counts of involuntary manslaughter.
Among the 16 police-pursuit deaths in Hampton Roads since 1980, at least two were similar to Saturday's tragedy. In June 1982, Newport News police were chasing a car that collided with another, killing two women.
In November 1982, a car driven by a Navy man was being chased by a Virginia Beach officer when it collided with another auto containing two other Navy men. All three were killed.
In the Saturday-night chase, three Norfolk police cars were following two troopers as backups. Virginia Beach police, who initiated the chase 15 miles away on International Parkway when they caught the van speeding on radar, had broken off before Peterson, 47, left Interstate 264.
Turner said that Virginia Beach Police and Norfolk Police appeared to have followed accepted pursuit procedures. But the troopers, he said, should never have helped turn the crime of speeding into a double homicide. Police said Peterson was also driving while intoxicated.
Turner, whose training program for professional drivers has been used by police departments around the country since 1976, admitted that determining fault in fatal pursuit situations is difficult. Finally, he said, it comes down to an individual decision.
``But the bottom line is that when the risk of continuing the pursuit is outweighed by the risk to the public, you should get out,'' he said. ``In this case, it sounds like it was.''
Lt. Col. Basil Belsches, deputy superintendent of the Virginia State Police, defended his troopers in an interview Tuesday. Belsches said Turner's criticism did not take into account all of the factors that police had to deal with Saturday night.
``I guess he doesn't know the whole story,'' Belsches said.
State troopers videotaped the chase from Newtown Road until the collision. They have not released the tape, which police said will be used as evidence against Peterson.
Peterson has a history of drunken driving charges dating to at least 1976. He is being held in the Norfolk City Jail, awaiting a Feb. 8 arraignment. He was free on a $7,500 bond on a drunken-driving charge in Virginia Beach when Saturday's accident occurred.
Police are continuing their investigation into the incident, and Norfolk police spokesman Larry Hill said Tuesday that investigators would like the public's help in determining where Peterson was between 6:30 p.m. and 11 p.m. Saturday.
Virginia Beach police clocked Peterson speeding more than 20 mph over the 35 mph limit on International Parkway Saturday night about 11:15 p.m.
They chased Peterson down Lynnhaven Parkway to the Virginia Beach Expressway and then into Norfolk on Interstate 264.
The troopers took the lead in the chase near the Newtown Road exit in I-264. Norfolk police fell behind the state troopers when Peterson left the interstate at the Brambleton Avenue exit.
Police allege that Peterson was drunk when he struck Rosbe's 1983 BMW at about 50 mph. Prosecutors decided initially not to pursue the DUI charges against Peterson because of legal complications that could arise from trying him on two sets of offenses for the same incident.
Mike Brownlee, associate administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, said police pursuits continue to be a subject of national debate. The NHTSA attempts to document all incidents that end in injury or death, Brownlee said.
Nationally, he said, the death toll has remained around 300 annually since 1980 despite efforts to improve driving skills of police officers and to develop policies that help them determine when to call off pursuits.
He agreed with Turner that police can be given only so much guidance in pursuit situations.
``In the final analysis,'' Brownlee said, ``it usually comes down to an individual decision.''
KEYWORDS: HIGH SPEED CHASE ACCIDENT TRAFFIC FATALITY DRUNK DRIVING
DUI by CNB