A man was killed in a single-vehicle accident after robbing Cavalier Pipe and Tobacco in the Barracks Road shopping center last week—another reminder that it’s always a bad idea to flee police in your car.
In this case, the officers hadn’t even mounted a chase. Albemarle police spotted a Jeep Cherokee driving without its lights on in the Barracks Road area. When an officer signaled to the driver, Shawn Lewis of Hopewell, the truck speeded up. Officers followed the vehicle down Preston Avenue, where it struck a tree near Washington Park. Lewis was killed instantly. Police later found stolen merchandise from the tobacco store in the vehicle.
Albemarle police would not disclose their policy on car chases. City police policy allows car chases, with some restrictions. Officers must “weigh the need to apprehend a fleeing criminal suspect…against the hazard presented by the pursuit.” Shooting at, or from, a moving vehicle is considered “deadly force,” and—sorry, “Cops” fans—police can’t drive the wrong way against traffic, the policy states.
Officers can use roadblocks, as well as a tactic called “boxing in,” where two or more police vehicles cut off a suspect. Not exactly an action movie, but hey—even in Charlottesville, chases are serious stuff.
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