THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, April 5, 1995 TAG: 9504040158
SECTION: ISLE OF WIGHT CITIZEN PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY JODY R. SNIDER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ISLE OF WIGHT LENGTH: Long : 137 lines
A TEXTBOOK POLICE operation, it was not.
A Dodge van, which was playing a key role in last week's made-for-TV re-enactment of a 14-mile, high-speed police chase from Isle of Wight County to Suffolk, kept breaking down.
The re-enactment of a shotgun blast that shattered the windshield and wounded Virginia State Police Sgt. Phil M. Wrenn on May 6, 1987, didn't shatter the windshield on March 30, 1995.
And the three-man film crew from Washington-based Boni Productions filming the dramatic manhunt for a 15-minute segment of ``Real Stories of the Highway Patrol'' was behind schedule - and daylight was fading fast.
Even the first round of doughnuts arrived late for this gig.
But that's what can happen when Hollywood comes to Isle of Wight County.
The production show started at 9:30 a.m. Thursday. The cast included about 20 officers from the Virginia State Police Fifth Division Tactical Team in Chesapeake, the Isle of Wight Sheriff's Department and Smithfield and Suffolk police departments. They all waited for cues - and doughnuts - at Benns United Methodist Church.
State Police spokeswoman Tammy Van Dame spent the day coordinating the crew of police, who all took a day of vacation to participate in the flick and were paid $50 each by the film company for their efforts.
The segment is to be telecast on NBC-TV this summer or fall.
Meanwhile, Wrenn - the mild-mannered, 43-year-old star of the show - was narrating his part somewhere on Virginia Route 10 in Isle of Wight.
A 19-year state police veteran, Wrenn said he had mixed emotions about reliving the drama that could have killed him.
``I try not to think about it. It's an eerie feeling to have to talk about it. To go back to it.
``It's the only time that I've ever been shot at.''
But for the other officers waiting to do their bit pieces, the day had its exciting and mundane moments.
There was a lot of waiting around. A lot of hurrying around. And a lot of local folks watching the waiting and hurrying around from the roadside.
And sometimes, there was ``Action!''
State police dispatcher Annette Taylor played felon Arnita Worthington, and trooper Robert A. Hill played felon Daniel Wayne Jones. They had to do a lot of darting and dashing in and out of thick brush - with one of the most threatening, cantankerous state police dogs on the force, a 100-pound Rottweiler named Rommel, on their tails.
``Piece of cake,'' said an out-of-breath Taylor, who had just run with Hill a dozen times across thick brush along Route 10.
Finally, Hill and Taylor finished the scene, and the tactical team emerged with the pair in handcuffs. Rommel, on the other hand, indicated he'd like the chase to continue a while.
Then there was the shotgun blast that knocked out Wrenn's windshield in 1987 - but only pierced the first layer of glass Thursday. Police stopped traffic along Route 10 for that scene.
``They asked me if I had an old car they could shoot up,'' Isle of Wight Sheriff C.W. Phelps said. ``I told them no way!''
State police allowed the company to shoot up a 1990 cruiser, resurrected from the state graveyard for the occasion.
The real drama began for Wrenn about 5:45 a.m. May 6, 1987, as he was working radar on Route 10 in Isle of Wight County.
Arnita Worthington and Daniel Wayne Jones pulled up beside him in a van, and Jones fired one shotgun blast at the police cruiser, shattering the windshield but just missing Wrenn.
``I never even saw the guy,'' Wrenn said Thursday. ``I thought it was a shipyard van trying to distract me so a bunch of other shipyard vans could speed through. Sometimes they caravan along Route 10, and they'll do that.''
After the assault, the two fled toward Suffolk, with Wrenn following. They topped 100 mph in places, and glass from Wrenn's shattered windshield was still hitting him in the face as he pursued the two - for 14 miles through Suffolk and back into Isle of Wight County.
Finally, Worthington zipped onto a sandy road, where the van got stuck. The two ran into the woods and the manhunt began.
Thirty-two hours later - after knocking on doors, combing the woods with a dog and a helicopter - the pair was spotted in a field crisscrossed by power lines. They were cornered.
And they surrendered quietly.
Police later learned that Jones was scheduled to appear in court the day of the shooting, facing a mandatory one-year sentence for having driven a car after being judged a habitual traffic offender. Police think Jones mistook Wrenn for trooper E.D. Kessler, who was to testify against Jones in court that day. Jones wanted to kill Kessler to avoid jail time, Wrenn said.
``If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be here doing this,'' Wrenn said.
Jones was convicted of attempted capital murder and is serving his 57-year prison sentence, state police said. In a plea agreement, Worthington pleaded guilty to a charge of maliciously shooting into an occupied vehicle and was sentenced to eight years. Police say she has been released.
Police spokeswoman Van Dame said she cast roles based on photographs and descriptions of the event.
``We tried to use people who were actually in the incident,'' she said, ``because of the corporate knowledge needed to piece together the incident.''
About half of those participating in the filming were involved in the 1987 incident, she said.
Included in the local cast besides Sheriff Phelps were Smithfield Police Chief Mark A. Marshall - both were on the Smithfield force in 1987 - and Suffolk Police Chief Gilbert Jackson, who participated in the '87 manhunt. Two current members of the Chesapeake tactical team, J.B. Thompson and D.W. Ganoe, also participated in the capture.
The Virginia State Police routinely submit ideas to ``Real Stories of the Highway Patrol,'' Van Dame said. In fact, Boni Productions also filmed a 15-minute segment last Tuesday in Chesapeake, re-enacting how a trooper helped catch the killer of a Virginia Beach woman.
Toward the end of the day Thursday, the Dodge van, which the cops nicknamed ``the love machine,'' was suffering from mechanical failure. Again.
With only three hours of daylight left for filming, Van Dame shook her head in disgust as she popped her cellular phone out to call a tow truck so the van could be hauled to the next location.
But, hey, didn't they tell her?
That's show biz. ILLUSTRATION: Staff color photo on cover by John H. Sheally II
Virginia State Police officers play themselves as they re-enact the
capture of a suspect in the 1987 attempted murder of Sgt. Phil
Wrenn.
Staff photos by JOHN H. SHEALLY II
Rommel, a threatening, cantankerous 100-pound Rottweiler, pulls his
handler Officer Sammy Carr along as the dog begins tracking the
fugitives.
Cameraman Dennis Boni films the capture of the fugitives for ``Real
Stories of the Highway Patrol.''
The State Police team discusses the details of how the real
fugitives were captured before filming of the re-enactment began.
State Police spokeswoman Tammy Van Dame coordinated the effort.
The fugitives also were portrayed by police officers.
by CNB