THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, January 23, 1995 TAG: 9501230081
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE STONE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Long : 143 lines
A Virginia Beach man, convicted last year of drunken driving and awaiting trial on a second DUI charge, is now charged with killing two people after leading police on a high-speed, 15-mile chase late Saturday.
And again, police allege, the man was drunk.
The suspect, Arnold Oscar Peterson, 47, of the 2100 block of Beckman Cove, was being held without bond Sunday at the Norfolk City Jail. He faces arraignment todayon numerous charges, including two counts of involuntary manslaughter.
Killed were Richmond attorney William L. Rosbe, 50, and Terrie Guille Timms, 40, of Virginia Beach.
Police said the couple were headed home from the opera.
Peterson was bruised but otherwise not seriously hurt. Police said the van he was driving slammed into Rosbe's 1983 BMW at the intersection of Duke Street and Brambleton Avenue at about 11:30 p.m. Saturday. He spent the night in a hospital and was released in police custody Sunday.
He was already free on a $7,500 bond pending his trial on the previous DUI charge, police said.
High-speed police pursuits have become a national controversy in recent years because of the number of police officers and innocent passers-by who have died or been critically injured as a result.
``Mr. Peterson is totally responsible to the victims of this accident,'' Virginia Beach police spokesman Mike Carey said. ``He acted with total disregard for laws and lives.''
Carey and officials with the other departments involved in the chase were grim Sunday and sympathized with the families of the victims.
Still, ``This was not a case where the man had no tail light or his muffler was dragging on the road,'' he said. ``This man was well in excess of 20 mph over the speed limit. And he appeared to be drunk.''
All three police departments involved in the chase plan to review the case more thoroughly, however. And state police have one extra tool to help them: a videotape of most of the chase made on a camera mounted in the lead state police vehicle. It even recorded the moment when the van hit the BMW.
In a joint news conference Sunday, Carey, Norfolk police spokesman Larry Hill and state police spokeswoman Tammy Van Dame gave this scenario of the chase and wreck:
An unmarked police car was running radar in the 2600 block of International Parkway in Virginia Beach late Saturday. The area has been the site of several fatal accidents in recent years.
About 11:17 p.m., a white van came by exceeding the 35 mph speed limit by much more than 20 mph, police said.
The police car, using lights and siren, went after the van. Instead of stopping, the driver sped up and turned north on Lynnhaven Parkway.
The officer radioed for assistance and a marked police unit joined and took the lead in the chase near the Virginia Beach-Norfolk Expressway.
As the chase turned onto the highway, officers asked that the police helicopter be sent up to help track the car, that state police be alerted, that gates at the expressway toll plaza be lowered and that dispatchers contact Nansemond Heating & Cooling Inc. of Suffolk, the company name on the van.
As the chase sped through the toll plaza - before the gates could be lowered - dispatchers radioed back that an employee of the company told them that no one was authorized to be using a company van at that hour. Police wondered if it was stolen.
With the pursuit reaching speeds of 70 to 80 mph on the open roadway, state police units joined up near Newtown Road and along Interstate 264 as the van raced toward Norfolk.
State police tried several times to position themselves in front of and beside the van - a rolling roadblock - in an effort to stop it. Each time, they slowed the van but it swerved around them.
The van exited onto Brambleton Avenue.
At this point, the Virginia Beach police units broke off from the chase. A Norfolk unit pulled in behind the state police cars, but left it to them to maintain the pursuit.
The van slowed somewhat on city streets, but was still traveling at at least 50 mph. As it sped past the Norfolk State University campus, the van slipped into the westbound lanes. State police remained in the eastbound lanes.
As the chase reached the Scope Plaza area, police were still on the van's tail.
Near Duke Street, the traffic light was red. State police slowed, but the van shot ahead and slammed into the driver's side of the BMW.
The BMW flipped several times - rolling side over side across the median - and came to a rest on its wheels in the eastbound lanes.
A wheel, with a large spring attached, was left 20 feet from the car. Papers and personal effects were scattered in all directions, pages blowing in the freezing breeze.
Even with the chase ended, police said Peterson was not willing to surrender. They said he resisted arrest and had to be subdued with pepper gas.
Hill said Peterson's blood alcohol level was ``well in excess of the legal limit'' of 0.08, but he declined to say by how much pending the suspect's arraignment.
It took more than an hour for rescue crews to cut off the top of the crumpled car and remove the bodies from the wreckage.
One spectator condemned police while watching the wreckage. Applauding loudly, he shouted: ``Job well done, gentlemen. I hope you get your promotions.''
Details about Peterson's 1991 DUI conviction were not available Sunday. But police said his previous drunken driving charge stemmed from an incident on Dec. 3.
Just before 4 a.m. that day, police received a call of a domestic dispute allegedly involving Peterson. When police responded, they spotted him driving a car near Old Donation Parkway and First Colonial Road.
It took two officers to make an arrest, and both were injured and had their uniforms ripped. Peterson was charged with DUI, assaulting an officer, resisting arrest and simple assault, the later charge stemming from the original domestic dispute.
Peterson's trial date on those charges is Feb. 27.
As a result of Saturday's pursuit and wreck, Norfolk police have charged Peterson with the two counts of involuntary manslaughter and second-offense DUI. Virginia Beach police have charged him with felony eluding, reckless driving and failure to pay a toll. MEMO: [For a related story, see page B3 for this date.]
ILLUSTRATION: ARRESTED
Arnold Oscar Peterson, shown in his driver's license photo, has
been charged with drunken driving and two counts of involuntary
manslaughter in Saturday night's crash. He was convicted of drunken
driving last year and was awaiting trial on another DUI charge.
STAFF Map
The Victims
William L. Rosbe, 50, from Richmond, had been widowed last year
with one daughter.
Terrie G. Timms, 40, of Virginia Beach, had been widowed last
year the three children, ages 6, 7 and 10.
Profiles, Page B3
GARY C. KNAPP
Rescue officials clear the scene of a fatal crash that resulted from
a high-speed chase late Saturday. Two people were killed.
KEYWORDS: ACCIDENT TRAFFIC FATALITIES DRUNKEN DRIVING DUI ARREST
INVOLUNTARY MANSLAUGHTER RECKLESS DRIVING FELONY ELUDING
HIGH-SPEED CHASE by CNB