THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 21, 1996 TAG: 9607210056
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE STONE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 148 lines
A 33-year-old man was shot by police Saturday after he allegedly beat his mother and girlfriend and later ran down one city officer, injured a second and rammed two state police cars with a stolen FBI Suburban.
The suspect, identified as Michael R. Mitchem of the 1100 block of Crest Haven Lane, was listed in stable condition Saturday night after surgery at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital.
A single warrant has been filed charging Mitchem - who at one point was seen wearing an FBI ball cap he apparently found in the stolen vehicle - with malicious assault. But police said he faces a multitude of additional charges from Virginia Beach and Norfolk police, state police and the FBI. He was under police guard at the hospital.
His arrest capped a day of violence that ended after a chase down the Virginia Beach-Norfolk Expressway.
``It looked like the O.J. Simpson chase,'' said Bill Moughamian, 41, a Newport News photographer who witnessed the chase while he was heading to the Oceanfront about 12:35 p.m.
``The state troopers were first, then the Virginia Beach police, then some plain cars and more Virginia Beach police and more troopers,'' Moughamian said. ``It stretched for half, three-quarters of a mile. They were dodging in and out of traffic.''
Mike Carey, a Virginia Beach police spokesman, and Tammy Van Dame, his state police counterpart, described events leading up to the shooting. But, Carey cautioned Saturday evening, ``a lot of this is still sketchy, and investigators are still trying to sort it all out.''
About 3:26 a.m., Carey said, Virginia Beach police received a report that a woman had been struck by a car at the Wayside Motor Inn in the 400 block of South Military Highway.
When officers arrived, Carey said, they found that a woman had been severely injured, but it was as a result of being assaulted - allegedly by her own son, identified as Mitchem. They were told he had taken his mother's car and fled.
``This was a pretty violent situation here,'' Carey said, ``and we're not releasing her name at this moment.''
Sometime shortly after, the car apparently broke down in the vicinity of Military Highway andInterstate 264 in Norfolk.
Police believe Mitchem abandoned the disabled vehicle and went to the nearby FBI compound in the 100 block of Corporate Blvd., where he scaled a fence. He allegedly took a 1991 Chevrolet Suburban, used as a utility vehicle by agents, from a rear parking area.
It was unclear whether the keys had been left in the vehicle.
About 8:20 a.m., FBI agents discovered the Suburban missing, Carey said. They also noticed the abandoned car and wondered if the two situations were related.
Agents checked the abandoned vehicle's registration and called the listed home of the owner. The person who answered the phone said the owner had been hospitalized as a result of an assault, Carey said.
As agents pursued the case, they learned Mitchem's name and were told he might be at a residence in the 1400 block of Gannett Run in the Salt Marsh Point subdivsion near the Oceanfront.
When agents called that location, about 12:30 p.m., a woman confirmed the information and said the stolen Suburban was there, Carey said. She also told them Mitchem was there, he said.
The FBI then called Virginia Beach police and asked that police cars be sent to the address. Agents also headed there, Carey said.
``While we were en route, we received a call from a female at that address that there was a violent dispute,'' Carey said. ``We had been out there (Friday) for a domestic dispute as well'' between Mitchem and his girlfriend.
Master Police Officer Rob Ricketts and officer Scott D. Depew of the 2nd Precinct were in the first police car to reach the area. About two blocks from the house, at Brant Road and Marshview Drive, they spotted the Suburban.
``They got out of their vehicle and tried to get the Suburban to stop,'' Carey said. Instead, ``the suspect accelerated toward them, ramming the police car.'' Depew was hurt, and flying glass and debris struck Ricketts' face and arm.
Depew was later taken to the Trauma Center at Virginia Beach General Hospital, where he was treated for injuries to an arm, a leg and his side. He was released Saturday night in stable condition, Carey said. Ricketts was treated at the scene for cuts.
Despite being knocked to the ground and injured, Depew was able to radio for help, and several police cars caught up with the stolen Suburban moments later as it continued down Marshview Drive and turned east on Norfolk Avenue.
With police in pursuit, the vehicle went north on Cypress Avenue, turned west on Virginia Beach Boulevard and then south on Birdneck Road. Finally, the chase wound onto the westbound Virginia Beach-Norfolk Expressway.
City police, having suspected the driver would head for the expressway, had alerted state police. Troopers were waiting at Lynnhaven Parkway and the old toll plaza.
State police took the lead and, almost immediately, the suspect began repeatedly bumping the state police cars.
``The suspect hit both of our vehicles and was very, very aggressive in his manner of driving,'' Van Dame said, adding that the chase never reached more than 20 mph over the speed limit.
Meanwhile, a relative of Mitchem had called city police and warned that Mitchem would not surrender peacefully and that he could be counted on to take his own life or shoot someone else, Carey said.
That information was relayed to the officers in pursuit.
State police now pressed the chase, intent on stopping Mitchem. One car got in front of the Suburban, the other pulled up on the passenger side. The cars initiated a ``rolling roadblock,'' attempting to box in and slow the vehicle.
Mitchem became more intent on breaking away, however. As the troopers corralled the Suburban against the highway median wall, Mitchem rammed the police car beside him.
``This time, he did it with full force,'' Van Dame said. But the trooper maintained control. ``When that car did not move, he struck the police car in front and accelerated, trying to push it out of the way.''
The troopers instead hit their brakes, jamming the Suburban to a halt between them just west of the intersection with Independence Boulevard.
``They ordered him out of the car repeatedly,'' Van Dame said, ``but he ignored all kinds of instructions to exit the vehicle and raise his hands.'' Instead, she said, Mitchem bent over and reached under the front seat.
One of the troopers in front of the Suburban and one of the city police officers behind it then shot at Mitchem simultaneously. The man was struck more than once and fell.
No one else was hurt, and police said the officers were not in each other's line of fire.
When rescue workers arrived, the suspect told them that he was taking methamphetamines, police said.
The names of the officers who fired the shots were not released. The trooper was described as a nine-year veteran; the city officer as an eight-year veteran.
Both men have been placed on administrative duties pending an investigation into their decision to open fire. That is a routine procedure, however, and officials indicated there was no reason to suspect the men had acted improperly.
The State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation is the lead agency in the case. Van Dame would not say what, if anything, was found in the stolen Suburban.
The end of the chase marked the beginning of a major traffic jam. More than a dozen police and FBI vehicles were on the scene, and, for a short time, only one lane was open to traffic.
To make matters worse, there were several minor accidents attributed to drivers looking at the scene and losing track of traffic in front of them. It took 4 1/2 hours to clear the scene. ILLUSTRATION: Map
VP
HOW THE CHASE UNFOLDED
Photo
JOHN C. BELL
Charlotte Lowe, forensics unit supervisor, takes notes while
Virginia Beach Forensic Technician Bernice Hartless and Virginia
State Police Special Agent John Polac examine evidence Saturday on
the Virginia Beach-Norfolk Expressway.
KEYWORDS: ASSAULT INJURIES ARREST
SHOOTING AUTOMOBILE THEFTS by CNB