ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, May 8, 1996 TAG: 9605080015
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: JAN VERTEFEUILLE STAFF WRITER
An insurance company has asked a federal judge to decide whether it must defend a Montgomery County driver who crashed into a Blacksburg police cruiser during a 1993 police chase.
Madison Linkous Jr. was found not guilty by reason of insanity of malicious wounding and attempted malicious wounding of two officers after an eight-mile pursuit in August 1993. He was chased by a Montgomery County deputy and Blacksburg officers from South Main Street near the Gables Shopping Center, through the Merrimac community, and back down Prices Fork Road near Virginia Tech.
Linkous, 63 at the time, struck four cars stopped at a traffic light while failing to stop for police pursuing him. He then ran into a police cruiser driven by Officer Harrison Vaughan, who was stopped in a left-turn lane facing the opposite direction.
Linkous was found not guilty after testimony showed that he was having a psychotic episode because of an apparent schizophrenia disorder. He has since been released from Central State Hospital and his medication stabilized, one of his attorneys said.
Vaughan, who sustained neck and back injuries, sued Linkous last August in Montgomery County Circuit Court for $350,000 for mental and physical pain, loss of earning capacity and medical bills. That suit has not yet come to trial.
Now, Linkous' insurance company, Pennsylvania National Mutual Casualty Insurance Co., has asked a federal judge in Roanoke to rule that the company is under no obligation to defend Linkous in the suit or to pay any judgment the officer may win.
The company continues to represent him in the Montgomery County suit while asking the federal court to determine whether it must provide coverage, said Phillip Anderson, a Roanoke attorney representing the insurance company.
Linkous' actions and statements after the collision indicate his actions were deliberate, so "any coverage to which he would be otherwise entitled is excluded under the terms of the Penn National policy," the company says in its request for a judgment in its favor.
Insurance is intended to provide coverage for "accidental events, not intentional events," Anderson said.
Dutton Olinger, a Blacksburg lawyer who represented Linkous on his criminal charges, said because Linkous was found mentally incompetent at the time of the accident, the insurance company has an obligation to defend him.
Linkous is at home and "functioning well" with proper medication now, Olinger said.
Police said Linkous ran a stop sign at Merrimac and Prices Fork roads, then swerved near a Blacksburg police car driven by Lt. Kim Crannis. Crannis said the car's driver tried to ram her cruiser but she backed out of the way, then joined a deputy in the pursuit.
Linkous then drove between two lanes of traffic, hitting four cars stopped at the light. According to his insurance company, the driver then "intentionally steered his vehicle toward the lefthand turn lane of eastbound Prices Fork Road, forcing it to collide head on with Vaughan's vehicle."
Linkous told police he just wanted to go fast and didn't recall hitting as many cars as they told him he did, according to court testimony.
LENGTH: Medium: 62 linesby CNB