Friday, January 3, 2003
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Friday, January 3, 2003 |
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Minor traffic accident in Luthersville sparked deadly police chase in PTC By JOHN MUNFORD
The deadly police chase that claimed the life of a Peachtree City man in July began as Luthersville police officers investigated a minor traffic accident, according to initial police reports. Loraine McCrary of Jonesboro was pulled over July 27 at 7:08 p.m. after witnesses said her red Ford Explorer ran off the road and hit a stop sign in Luthersville, according to police reports. But radio trouble forced the officer back to his patrol unit, and McCrary dashed back into her vehicle, speeding away and setting off the chain of events that ultimately killed Chuck Vicha, according to reports. McCrary pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide in the first degree and was sentenced to 15 years in prison over three weeks ago. The Citizen reviewed the entire prosecution case file under the Georgia Open Records Act to provide information for this story. When McCrary's vehicle struck Vicha as he attempted to turn off Broken Bow Drive onto Hwy. 54, she was travelling at approximately 94 miles per hour, according to an extensive report prepared by the Georgia State Patrol's Specialized Accident Reconstruction Team. The report noted that McCrary's brake lights activated briefly twice just before the collision, but not enough to make a negligible difference in the speed of her Explorer, which also carried her three children. McCrary's blood sample, taken over two hours after the accident, was .14 grams, well over the legal limit for intoxication in Georgia, the report stated. Chase enters Fayette After McCrary put the slip on Luthersville Police Lt. Jason Smith, speeds of the pursuit ranged between 80 and 120 mph, Smith noted in his report. Smith had an early indication of McCrary's recklessness when she blew through the intersection of hwys. 54 and 16 without bothering to slow down. A video from the camera of another patrol car shows the chase entering Peachtree City on Hwy. 54, with McCrary using turn lanes to zoom past traffic and Smith's vehicle behind her. Somehow, McCrary and Smith, along with a second Luthersville unit, made it safely past a backed-up lane of eastbound traffic at the bridge over the CSX railroad tracks. McCrary then turned into The Avenue at Peachtree City, and the video depicts Smith's patrol car getting in front of McCrary's Explorer, but only briefly. He stopped his unit in an attempt to halt McCrary, but she dodged around him to the right as he tried to exit the patrol car. McCrary sped up again, her Explorer taking to the air briefly as the raised pedestrian crosswalks became ramps. She then turned left, heading the wrong way down The Avenue's traffic circle, nearly hitting another vehicle head on. McCrary snaked her way out of The Avenue and back onto Hwy. 54 heading east. The video shows her brake suddenly in what could have been an attempt to crash the pursuing Luthersville officer's car. Moments later, her Explorer veers to the left, an apparent attempt to knock one of the Luthersville units off course. Meanwhile, Peachtree City officers blocked off intersections to keep the public away from the high-speed pursuit as it sped past Peachtree Parkway. The GSP report cites that action as a reason the chase reached higher speeds through Peachtree City. "This blocking of traffic undoubtedly allowed the speed of the pursuit to increase to speeds of greater than 100 mph," the report stated. Peachtree City Police Chief James Murray has defended his department's actions in the chase, saying the department's first goal is to protect the public's safety. Also, since there was so little warning of the chase entering Peachtree City and because of the danger to other motorists due to moderate traffic Peachtree City officers decided not to use "stop sticks" to disable McCrary's car. Murray says at the high speeds the chase reached, the stop sticks could have caused McCrary's vehicle to wreck, possibly endangering an innocent motorist. Ultimately, the wreck killed Vicha, who was returning from a brief shopping trip. Murray used the incident to call for greater restrictions on police pursuits, but Gov. Roy Barnes declined Murray's request to create state regulations on the issue. Fayette state Sen. Mitch Seabaugh held a hearing on high speed police chases months after the crash, and various law enforcement officials testified that Georgia's police officers do not receive special training on how to safely end police chases. Georgia State Patrol troopers, however, get more intensive training on special maneuvers and tactics that can be used to resolve chases quickly and most times safely, officials said at the hearing. Seabaugh, who sits on the senate's public safety committee, pledged to look into the matter further.
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