Delegate wants to study safety issues in police chases

Saying that "public safety has taken a back seat to catching criminals," a state delegate yesterday announced plans for several legislative proposals addressing the issue of high-speed police chases.

Del. Delores L. McQuinn, D-Richmond, said she intends to introduce legislation to study the introduction of statewide guidelines for high-speed chases, a proposal that was prompted by the recent death of a Richmond pastor who was killed by a vehicle fleeing Henrico County police. McQuinn said it was too early to offer specifics for what the guidelines would say.

McQuinn also said she will propose legislation to require "specialized training in police pursuits for all officers and alternatives to pursuits."

Minimum training standards in Virginia already require police academies to cover police chases and to test recruits on what factors they should consider when initiating a pursuit and on potential hazards of a high-speed chase.

And McQuinn said she plans to propose legislation to stiffen penalties for people who cause fatal crashes.

"It is past time to act on this situation," McQuinn said during a news conference at the intersection in Richmond's East End where Apostle Anthony L. Taylor was killed March 24. "The loss of his life is a monumental void and a colossal loss to this community and his church."

McQuinn said her proposals aim to protect members of the community and also police officers, and she added that she is not encouraging a "free-for-all" in which suspects think they can get away with fleeing from officers.

Darryl M. Harris, 26, faces a charge of second-degree murder and other counts in Taylor's death. Henrico police chased Harris from a checkpoint in Henrico into the city, where, according to authorities, the car Harris was driving ran a stop sign and struck a pickup driven by Taylor, killing him.

The mile-long chase began after the odor of marijuana was detected coming from the car at the checkpoint, according to a search warrant. Officers later recovered marijuana and a gun from the vehicle.

McQuinn was flanked by representatives of local churches and by two other politicians, City Councilwoman Cynthia I. Newbille and Del. Joseph D. Morrissey, D-Henrico.

"On a warm spring night, with children playing in a residential area, where the streets are narrow and there's no room for error, we lost a major person in our community," McQuinn said.

Law-enforcement authorities have refused to say how fast Harris and the pursuing officers were traveling.

Richmond defense attorney Steven Benjamin, who is counsel to the Senate Courts of Justice Committee, said McQuinn is taking a cautious approach by seeking legislation to have a study performed. He said McQuinn is giving herself a "platform for her to speak in the strongest possible language about unnecessary or reckless police pursuits."

"The real question," he added, "is what is likely to come from this? The General Assembly is very reluctant to do anything that removes police agency discretion."

Dana G. Schrad, executive director of the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police, said law-enforcement agencies need flexibility when setting their policies.

"It's such a difficult thing to know how to write a policy that's a static policy that's the same for every agency and every situation," Schrad said. "It's not practical."

She also noted that officers don't know where a chase is going to take them. "The officer doesn't determine where the pursuit goes," she said. "It's the violator who's being pursued."

Del. David B. Albo, R-Fairfax, a member of the State Crime Commission, said McQuinn has good ideas but agreed with Schrad that "it's always tough to establish a one-size-fits-all policy."

The fatal crash is resulting in a regional review of pursuit tactics. Officials say that Henrico and Richmond have agreed to notify each other any time a checkpoint is set up within a mile of a common boundary. Technical glitches in a communication system that stopped Henrico from notifying Richmond that a chase was in progress have been fixed.

Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones has called for a regional summit to address protocols for chases across city and county lines, among other issues. A date for the meeting has not been set.

Contact Reed Williams at (804) 649-6332 or rwilliams@timesdispatch.com.