
DATE: Thursday, March 27, 1997              TAG: 9703270383

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MIKE MATHER, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:  130 lines

KILLING OF DRIVER RAISES QUESTIONS

The fatal shooting of a motorist who led police on a low-speed, car-smashing chase on Independence Boulevard on Tuesday night raised questions about whether the officers acted appropriately by firing dozens of shots at the driver.

On Wednesday, police gave no indication the motorist was armed. But detectives said the initial investigation seemed to show deadly force appeared necessary to stop the driver's unexplained rampage because he was a threat to the officers and others.

The shooting was widely discussed in each of the city's four police precincts Wednesday. Some officers said their colleagues had no choice but to fire, but others said the shooting may have been avoidable. Investigations by the homicide unit, the department's internal-affairs staff and the commonwealth's attorney's office will determine if the officers acted properly under the law and the Police Department's guidelines.

Those guidelines say police can shoot suspects ``to protect an officer's life or the life of another person.'' But those same guidelines also prohibit shootings ``when any other reasonable means of capture is available without endangering the officer(s) life or the life of any other person(s).''

This police shooting is the first in Virginia Beach since October when a SWAT member accidentally wounded an unarmed suspect during a hotel-room search. And Tuesday's is also the first fatal police shooting in a year in Virginia Beach. In 1996, there were at least five police-involved shootings; three suspects died.

All of the officers involved in those shootings have been cleared of wrongdoing.

Police identified the driver who died Tuesday as 28-year-old Bruce V. Quagliato. He was unemployed.

Police said Quagliato no longer lived at the Oceanfront address listed on his driver's license, and they weren't sure where he resided. His parents live in New England, police said.

Police spokesman Lou Thurston said several officers jumped from their patrol cars and surrounded the damaged yellow Camaro Quagliato was driving seconds after it crashed into a light pole and spun off Independence Boulevard near the Virginia Beach-Norfolk Expressway.

Thurston declined to say how many officers fired at the car. Witnesses said between four and eight officers shot at Quagliato, who was struck in the face, side and back.

``The car was lunging in the direction of the officers,'' Thurston said. ``He (the driver) was ordered to put his hands up and did not. Instead, he reached into the passenger side of the car and was again ordered to put his hands up. He didn't comply.''

That's when the shooting started, Thurston said.

The police spokesman said the ``totality of the circumstances'' appeared to justify the shooting. He said those circumstances included:

A brief police chase on the Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base where Quagliato's car rammed a base police car, sending the officer to a hospital.

Quagliato's refusal to stop on Independence Boulevard.

Two officers trying to deploy tire-deflating spikes were nearly hit when the Camaro swerved toward them.

The Camaro's repeated rammings of police cruisers on Independence Boulevard, including an attempt to shove one police car onto the median.

The police chase on Independence Boulevard remained within the 45-mph speed limit, officers said. At one point early in the pursuit, Quagliato's car even stopped for a red light, but he refused to pull over.

Barbara Jennings, a public affairs spokeswoman for Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base, said base police attempted to stop the car for speeding when they saw him near the base exchange, just inside Gate 5 (at Independence Boulevard and Shore Drive) about 9:30 p.m.

``Our base police tried to stop him for speeding,'' she said. ``As one of our patrol cars was trying to stop him, he would not stop. Then it appeared that he was going to stop at one point. But he put the car in reverse and backed into one of our patrol cars. He rammed the police car pretty hard.''

The man then sped off the base down Independence Boulevard. Base police radioed Virginia Beach police and gave up pursuit, according to Jennings.

The base police officer who was rammed was not injured, however he was sent to Bayside Hospital for a checkup, she said.

``That was the end of our involvement. We don't know why he was on the base. He is not a sailor. Virginia Beach police said he is a civilian who lives in the Hampton Roads area.''

Police on Wednesday couldn't say with certainty what prompted Quagliato's behavior.

Homicide Sgt. Tommy Baum said his investigators have been told that Quagliato may have been suffering from mental problems or depression. He said detectives were interviewing Quagliato's friends and associates to learn more.

One investigator also said the police were lucky in that the barrage of police bullets didn't hit any of the officers. Because the officers had circled Quagliato's car when they started shooting, several could have been caught in crossfire, but none were hurt.

The officers who fired, including a probationary police officer who graduated from the academy two months ago, were placed on administrative duties. That practice is standard when officers are involved in shootings.

Thurston, the police spokesman, declined to release the names of the officers involved.

Police are still trying to locate witnesses. Anyone who saw what happened after the car crashed is asked to call 427-4145. MEMO: Staff writer Jack Dorsey contributed to this report

RULES ON POLICE USE OF FIREARMS

The Virginia Beach Police Department's book of General Orders says

the decision to shoot is ``the most critical decision a police officer

may be called upon to make during the performance of his duties. . . .''

In part, the order governing firearms says:

Firearms MAY be used

1. To protect an officer's life or the life of another person.

2. To prevent the escape of a fleeing felon, providing each of the

following conditions is met:

a. The officer is reasonably sure a felony has been committed.

b. The felony committed involved the use or threatened use of deadly

force.