DATE: Friday, September 26, 1997            TAG: 9709260779

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JON FRANK, STAFF WRITER

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   99 lines

18 BEACH POLICE NOW TARGETED THEY WERE FOLLOWING ORDERS, STOLLE SAYS POLICE PLAYED ROLE IN FATAL SHOOTING OF DRIVER ON MARCH 25

Eighteen police officers now face punishment, including possible termination, stemming from their involvement in the fatal shooting of a 28-year-old man in March, according to an attorney representing some of the officers.

The disciplinary action, apparently unprecedented in its scope, has broadened to include virtually everyone connected to the pursuit and death of Bruce V. Quagliato on March 25. The events started at Little Creek Amphibious Base and ended with Quagliato's Camaro being riddled by 60 bullets fired by at least eight officers on Independence Boulevard.

Kenneth W. Stolle, a state senator and a former police officer in Virginia Beach who is representing some of the officers, said such a belated disciplinary action is highly unusual.

``I have never seen this in a police-shooting issue before,'' Stolle said. ``They are undercutting the fiber of command in the police department. Police officers are being disciplined for something they were ordered to do by their sergeants.''

The number of officers facing punishment has nearly doubled since Wednesday, when Stolle said as many as 10 officers were facing disciplinary action for their roles in the case. At that time, Stolle said, he thought the action was being limited to those directly connected to Quagliato's death.

Now, Stolle said, the police department appears to be targeting all officers who had any involvement.

Stolle said Thursday he had spoken with eight more officers who had received letters notifying them that they are being disciplined. The letters, which do not say what specific disciplinary action will be taken, give the officers five days to respond before punishment is levied.

One of the officers who received a letter, Stolle said, was in the process of answering a domestic call when the low-speed pursuit of Quagliato passed close by. The officer participated briefly in the pursuit before being recalled to answer the domestic call. He was not close when the shooting occurred, Stolle said.

Other officers are being punished for improperly executing a ``rolling roadblock'' to stop Quagliato's car, Stolle said.

Such punishment is unfair, Stolle said, because ``these officers do not even receive training for rolling roadblocks.''

Police administrators are forbidden from talking about personnel matters, said Lou Thurston, a spokesman for the Virginia Beach Police Department, on Thursday. Mayor Meyera Oberndorf did not return a telephone call on Thursday.

Disciplinary action being considered against the officers ranges from a letter of reprimand to termination. In between are disciplinary transfers, suspensions and demotions.

Stolle said that letters of reprimand and transfers are removed from personnel records after 18 months. Suspensions and demotions are permanent marks against the officers and can be extremely damaging to law-enforcement careers.

Following the shooting, all of the officers involved were cleared of criminal wrongdoing by the Virginia Beach commonwealth's attorney's office. They also were cleared by a police-shooting review board investigation within the police department, Stolle said.

Stolle speculated that the disciplinary action was being taken to protect the city from a lawsuit expected to be filed by the family of Quagliato. Family members have notified the Police Department and the Navy that they plan to file a suit for $2 million.

Stolle said the police department is building a ``firewall'' to protect the city from the lawsuit, which is expected to target shortcomings in the training given to Virginia Beach police officers.

City leaders may believe the city can be protected from liability by blaming the individual officers for their conduct, Stolle said.

At the conclusion of the low-speed chase, Quagliato's car and at least one police cruiser collided. Quagliato's Camaro then swerved off the road and struck a light pole. While trying to arrest him, several police officers fired at Quagliato when he moved in the car.

Police reported that Quagliato was using his car as a battering ram and trying to run over officers on Independence Boulevard.

Quagliato's shooting is one of seven that occurred during an 18-month period in Virginia Beach. Two other shooting victims also died from wounds. At least one of the other fatal shootings, involving 19-year-old Bryan E. Dugan, was controversial.

Dugan was armed with several knives on June 15 in the Liberty Ridge subdivision when he was cornered by three Virginia Beach police officers and shot several times after an extended standoff.

Residents who watched criticized police. Several said Dugan could have been disarmed in some nonlethal way.

Following the shooting, Dugan's family hired a private investigator to look into the case.

Dugan's grandfather, Virginia Beach developer Edward Garcia, said Thursday that he is ``listening, reading and watching the outcome'' of the disciplinary actions stemming from the Quagliato shooting.

The private investigation into the shooting of his grandson is continuing, he said.

``We hope that if somebody did something wrong, the proper action will be taken,'' Garcia said of the Dugan case. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic

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