ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, January 22, 1997 TAG: 9701220048
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
Police shots end threat from tire iron
MARTINSVILLE - A man wielding a tire iron was shot and killed by a Henry County sheriff's corporal after pepper spray failed to stop him from coming toward two officers, the sheriff said.
David Roy Craighead, 35, died at Memorial Hospital of Martinsville after being shot Monday night outside a restaurant in Ridgeway, according to Virginia State Police special agent Jerry Humphries.
Cpl. J.R. Engstrom has been placed on administrative leave, with pay, and state police are investigating the shooting, officials said.
An autopsy Tuesday determined that Craighead had been shot three or four times, Humphries said.
Craighead was suspected of vandalizing an apartment and striking another man with a tire iron, and officers pursued his car into a restaurant parking lot, Sheriff Frank Cassell said.
After a short chase on foot, Craighead came out of a patch of brush carrying a tire iron and and advanced toward the officers Cassell said.
Sgt. R.D. Wade sprayed him with ``most of a can of pepper spray,'' but it did not faze the man, Cassell said. ``He said, `It tastes good, give me more,' or something to that effect.''
As Craighead continued toward the officers, Engstrom shot him at close range with his .40-caliber Beretta, Cassell said.
The sheriff said he was confident that Engstrom acted properly.
- Associated Press
Jury indicts suspect in teen's homicide
KING GEORGE - A grand jury Tuesday indicted a former neighbor of Sofia Silva's on murder and abduction with intent to defile charges in the slaying of the 16-year-old more than three months ago.
Karl Michael Roush, 44, was linked to the crime by fibers found in his 1984 Dodge Caravan that matched those on a blanket the teen's decomposed body was wrapped in, Spotsylvania County prosecutor William Neely said.
Each charge is punishable by up to life in prison.
The teen-ager disappeared Sept. 9 from her front porch. Her body was found in a King George County creek Oct. 14.
The case against Roush is mainly circumstantial, Neely said. It is based, at least in part, on statements Roush made to witnesses, the prosecutor said.
- Associated Press
Truck driver trips, is killed by car
STAFFORD - A 49-year-old Kissimmee, Fla., truck driver died Tuesday after he tripped while climbing down from the cab of his truck and stumbled into the path of a car on Interstate 95, police said.
State police said the accident occurred about 10:30 a.m. The driver, who wasn't identified pending notification of relatives, had pulled over to the shoulder of the road to assess damage to his rig after he hit a guardrail on the highway near Stafford.
The driver went to the cab of his truck to get safety cones. He then tripped as he stepped down from the cab, falling into the path of the car.
No charges will be filed against the other driver, a 59-year-old man from New York.
- Associated Press
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