Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, January 24, 1995 TAG: 9501240096
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium
Authorities said the accident Saturday night also involved drinking and driving and that the suspect, Arnold Oscar Peterson, led police on a 15-mile chase that ended when his van ran through a red light and slammed into a car carrying two people.
The victims, William L. Rosbe, 50, of Richmond, and Terrie Guille Timms, 40, of Virginia Beach, had just left the opera when their car was struck and turned over several times. Peterson, 47, was bruised but was not seriously hurt, police said.
Peterson ``is totally responsible to the victims of this accident,'' said Mike Carey, a Virginia Beach police spokesman. ``He acted with total disregard for laws and lives.''
According to police, the van that Peterson was driving was clocked at 55 mph in a 35 mph zone in Virginia Beach at 11:17 p.m. Saturday. The van kept going when pursued, police said, and the chase went on the Virginia Beach-Norfolk Expressway and along Interstate 264 at speeds up to 80 mph.
The van got off I-264 near the Norfolk State University campus and went several blocks before striking the car. Even then, police said, Peterson resisted arrest and had to be subdued with pepper spray.
Larry Hill, a Norfolk police spokesman, said Peterson's van was traveling about 50 mph at the time of the collision. He said Peterson's blood-alcohol level was ``well in excess'' of the legal limit of 0.08. He declined to say by how much.
Hill said the Norfolk and Virginia Beach police departments and the state police, all of which participated in the chase, were reviewing their procedures ``to see if there are any policy changes that need to be made or if there were any violations of policy.''
Carey said Virginia Beach officers also were receiving counseling. ``These officers feel terrible that this has occurred.''
Authorities said Peterson has a 1991 drunken driving conviction and was free on $7,500 bond awaiting a Feb. 27 trial in Virginia Beach, stemming from a drunken driving charge filed Dec. 3. Peterson also was charged with resisting arrest and assaulting an officer in that case.
by CNB