By John Tedesco
San Antonio Express-News
On the hot afternoon of May 7, 2008, Joseph Cannon was driving in Leon Valley when he glimpsed a black Nissan Pathfinder barreling the wrong way along Evers Road, speeding toward him.
There was no time to think, no time to react. Just a deafening crash as the Pathfinder slammed into a Cadillac in front of Cannon.
“They took the brunt of it head-on,” Cannon said later. “There was no warning. It was just - bam! - through their car.”
The driver of the Pathfinder was trying to evade a San Antonio police officer. The crash fatally injured the Cadillac’s passenger, Edna Hurst, 85.
“I just didn’t pull over because the car was stolen,” Brent Michael Wallace, who was 18 at the time, later admitted to an SAPD detective.
The deadly chase highlights the quandary police officers face in vehicle pursuits: Chasing a suspect often puts innocent bystanders at risk.
To see how effectively the Police Department keeps the public safe during chases, the San Antonio Express-News analyzed a unique resource: a database of chase reports kept by SAPD that tracks details of each pursuit by all of the department’s officers.
The database, which never has been reviewed by outsiders, was obtained through a request under the Texas Public Information Act.
The Express-News analyzed chases that occurred from 2003 to 2009. The newspaper also interviewed police officials and reviewed police videos, radio recordings and narratives for scores of chases.
The picture that emerges is one of a department that isn’t shy about calling off a chase if a police supervisor feels it’s too risky, or if the police helicopter unit, Blue Eagle, is able to assist.
The number of police chases dropped in 2009 to 124 pursuits - the lowest in six years. The drop occurred when the Police Department began scrutinizing vehicle safety after officers speeding to emergency calls crashed into other drivers.
Police Chief William McManus said his command staff visited officers in annual training sessions, which include four-hour refresher courses in vehicle safety.
“We have stressed over and over and over again the importance of watching your speed, and watching your driving safety,” McManus said.
But vehicle pursuits in San Antonio still are common and risky:
In the past six years, officers chased vehicles nearly 1,200 times - an average of one chase every two days. Two of five chases reached speeds of 60 mph or more.
Forty percent of all chases - 480 incidents - damaged cars or property, in cases ranging from minor fender-benders to horrific wrecks.
Nearly one of five chases injured someone - usually the suspect.
Blue Eagle plays an important role in police chases, but the helicopter unit was only able to assist in about a third of all pursuits.
The problem for police officers is that once a chase starts, they often have little control over how it will end unless they back off or a police helicopter arrives.
In a nationwide study of police chases by the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the most frequent ways a pursuit ended was when a suspect gave up; there was a collision; or the suspect got away.
“What is telling about these statistics is that 72 percent of all pursuits end because of a reason that is almost completely out of the hands of the police,” wrote the study’s authors, Cynthia Lum and George Fachner.
Balancing Act
Police departments exert the most control over a chase at the beginning - when deciding whether the pursuit is worth the risk. Some law enforcement agencies allow chases for almost any reason. Others restrict pursuits to drivers who are wanted for committing violent felonies.
Geoffrey Alpert, a professor at the University of South Carolina who has spent years researching police pursuits, argues for stringent pursuit policies. “I think it’s a serious, violent crime to flee from police,” Alpert said. “But the point is, the longer the chase goes on, the higher the speeds, the riskier the environment, the more likely you’re going to have a serious injury.”
In San Antonio, McManus is familiar with Alpert’s argument, but he said SAPD’s pursuit policy attempts to find a middle ground. Officers aren’t allowed to chase suspects for minor traffic violations, and they’re required to back off when Blue Eagle can follow the suspect from the air.
“There’s certainly two points of view out there,” McManus said, noting some people want police to follow the strictest policies. “There are others who say, ‘Heck no - somebody steals my car, I want them to go after it.’ It’s a balancing act.”
Comparing police chases to other cities is complicated. Police agencies operate under different policies and there’s no standardized method of collecting chase data.
The Express-News filed open-records requests for data and policies at other large police departments in Texas, but most agencies sought permission from the attorney general’s office to withhold the records.
In San Antonio, the crash rate has fluctuated. It peaked in 2008, when nearly half the chases damaged property that year. The percentage of crashes and injuries dropped in 2009 after police emphasized vehicle safety.
Overall, the average percentage of crashes in San Antonio was 40 percent, which is in line with other police departments Alpert has studied in the past.
Blue Eagle
On July 19, 2008, at 3:38 a.m., a helicopter, barely visible in the night sky, trained an infrared camera on a speeding pickup and zoomed in on it.
Blue Eagle had been asked to assist SAPD officers who were chasing a suspected drunken driver. On the ground, officer Ramsey Garcia had tried to pull over the truck on Interstate 35.
“He wrecked out in the center median when I tried to pull him over,” Garcia reported over the radio. The truck sped away and Garcia followed.
The chase offers a snapshot of how San Antonio police handle pursuits. It’s one thing to watch a chase unfold on TV news. It’s another thing to watch it on a police video and hear what officers say.
In the chase of the truck, a police supervisor authorized the pursuit and monitored it over the radio. Officers gave their location, the traffic conditions and speeds - the chase at times reached 80 mph.
Blue Eagle plays a key role in chases. Once the pilot and tactical observer are overhead, officers on the ground can back off. That’s what initially happened during the pursuit of the truck - Sgt. Donald Mize ordered the lead officer in the chase to slow down after Blue Eagle arrived.
“Back off,” Mize instructed. “Back down to the regular speed limit. Let Eagle follow him. You’re done for now. Just keep driving the same direction, so when they bail out you can be close. But as far as you staying on them, you’re done. Let Eagle take it.”
The officers complied. But then the truck headed down a dead-end street. It pulled a U-turn. SAPD units drove up on the driver, who veered through yards to evade them.
Mize wasn’t happy.
“Let me try this one more time,” Mize announced over the radio. “I do not want a marked unit behind that car! Let Eagle do the chase. Back off and let Eagle follow that vehicle.”
An officer aboard Blue Eagle clarified over the air that the patrol cars hadn’t intentionally caught up with the truck. Then the DWI suspect drove onto another dead-end street, came to a stop, and exited the truck.
“OK, it’s a dead end,” the Blue Eagle officer reported. “Come around that corner, guys, and take that next left. OK, he’s runnin’ in the grass, jumpin’ the fence.”
Police officers caught the driver: Jay Ortega, 32, who suffered cuts to his forehead during his capture. Two officers cut themselves jumping the fence to arrest Ortega.
Despite the importance of Blue Eagle, the unit’s four helicopters can’t support officers in every pursuit. According to the police chase database, the helicopter unit was able to respond to only about a third of all police pursuits. Blue Eagle could be tied up on other calls or grounded during poor weather.
Many chases end before the helicopter even can get there - the database shows half of all chases end in three minutes or less.
“Most pursuits reach their conclusion within minutes,” Sgt. David Torres of the helicopter unit wrote in an e-mail. “Our pilots try to engage every pursuit when conditions allow.”
Policy Violations
The 2008 chase involving the drunken driver is common - dangerous traffic violations were the most common reason officers gave for chasing vehicles, followed by suspects who were fleeing the scene of a felony.
Forty chases were initiated for minor traffic violations - a rationale that is prohibited under department policy. Supervisors called off most of those pursuits.
In recent years, SAPD has suspended at least five officers for violating its pursuit policy. A spokesman for SAPD said the officers weren’t available to discuss their suspensions for this article.
Officer Christopher Richter was punished with a two-day suspension after he chased a motorcycle May 23, 2008, for five miles without authorization.
“I never did get on the radio to advise dispatch that I was chasing (the motorcycle) because I was never behind him but for a few seconds before he would take off again,” Richter wrote in a statement to explain his actions.
The pursuit ended when Richter blocked the motorcycle with his patrol car - a policy violation - and the vehicles collided. The motorcyclist survived.
Another officer, Raul Gonzaba, was accused of trying to block a vehicle on Oct. 10, 2008, and not informing his supervisor of a minor collision. He received a one-day suspension.
On Jan. 26, 2009, officers William Karman and Chris McGowan were suspended for one day after they chased a DWI suspect the wrong way on Interstate 10 for a short distance. No bystanders were injured, and police later found the suspect’s car in a ditch. The driver got away.
Karman said in a report he hadn’t initially realized he was going the wrong way. McGowan, his backup officer, followed Karman.
The Police Department suspended the officers’ sergeant, David Bornhauser, for failing to immediately end the pursuit.
“While every effort to apprehend a possible intoxicated driver should always be exhausted, there comes a point when the risk of continuing a pursuit such as this one heavily outweighs the benefits of the apprehension,” Capt. Rosalinda Vasquez wrote in a memo about the chase.
An Innocent Casualty
Brent Michael Wallace started his crime spree May 3, 2008, at a Motel 6 on Fredericksburg Road when he stole a Nissan Pathfinder.
Two days later, Wallace stole $100 from a Subway store.
Two days after the robbery, Wallace broke into a vacant unit in the Woodtrails Apartments on Wurzbach Road to take a shower. A maintenance crew confronted him. Wallace jumped in the Pathfinder, rammed another vehicle, and fled, according to police records.
San Antonio police set up a quadrant to capture Wallace, and officer Robert Urdiales spotted him on Evers Road. Urdiales followed the Pathfinder into the parking lot of a Jack in the Box. Urdiales exited his car, pulled his gun and ordered Wallace out of the vehicle.
Wallace drove off and sped north on Evers, crossing into Leon Valley. Urdiales followed and spotted the black Pathfinder at least a quarter-mile away. A police supervisor gave Urdiales permission to pursue.
The officer saw Wallace blow through two stop signs. Then Wallace encountered traffic at Hueb-ner and Evers roads.
Wallace veered left - into the empty lane for oncoming traffic.
Meanwhile, Joseph Cannon, 36, was stopped at a red light at Huebner, waiting to take a left turn onto Evers. In front of him was a Cadillac Deville driven by Blaine Hurst, 80. His wife of 52 years, Edna, sat in the passenger seat.
The light turned green. The Cadillac began its turn. Cannon followed. He heard no sirens - the nearest police officer was at least a quarter-mile away.
Cannon spotted the Pathfinder speeding the wrong way on Evers.
“I just remember seeing a large black SUV,” Cannon said. “After that, I remember hearing a loud crash, then everything just kind of zoned out. It seemed like slow motion.”
The Pathfinder demolished the Cadillac. The impact spun the car around like a toy and it struck Cannon’s Jeep Liberty.
“It happened so fast,” said Cannon, who suffered an injured shoulder and a concussion. Blaine Hurst suffered bruises, cuts and a sprained ankle. His wife, a woman who loved to fish and read and had traveled around the world with Hurst, was critically injured with multiple broken bones. She died May 25, 2008.
Wallace blacked out but quickly came to his senses. He ran to a field and police caught him.
The aftermath was a scene of chaos. Shattered glass littered the street and gasoline fumes filled the air. Police officers and emergency crews swarmed the intersection.
Dazed, Cannon and Blaine Hurst sat on a curb, watching the Fire Department cut open the wrecked Cadillac in an effort to extricate the limp form of Edna Hurst.
“We just kind of sat there,” Cannon said. “We didn’t say a word to each other.”
Cannon said he places no blame on San Antonio police for the wreck. He blames Wallace, who in April was sentenced to 40 years in prison for the murder of Edna Hurst.
“Those kinds of guys,” Cannon said, “they don’t put a price on a life.”
Copyright 2010 San Antonio Express-News