By Wes Tomlinson
The Decatur Daily, Ala.
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — In the wake of a fatal wreck in Hartselle on Saturday after a Priceville police pursuit over an alleged traffic violation, a state senator is calling for clear parameters on when officers can initiate a chase, noting that minor offenses shouldn’t put the public at risk.
“This is certainly on the minds of the folks in Hartselle today and over the weekend and it ought to be on the minds of the public. And while it is on people’s minds, let’s do some due diligence and see if we can’t tighten things to presumably prevent loss of life and harm down the road,” Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, said Monday.
According to the Hartselle Police Department, around 8:30 p.m. on Saturday, the Priceville Police Department engaged in a vehicle pursuit that entered into the city of Hartselle on Alabama 36.
Hartselle Police Chief Alan McDearmond said his department received notification of the pursuit and two officers who were filling out reports at the police station responded. He said there was only one Priceville patrol vehicle in the pursuit.
“By the time ( Hartselle police) got out to a couple of intersections to attempt to deploy tire deflation devices, the vehicle and the officer had already passed,” McDearmond said. “So, basically, they just fell in very late behind to try to intervene with other intersections, but it was too late. The crash had already occurred.”
He said traffic homicide investigators were then called to the scene.
Morgan County Coroner Jeff Chunn confirmed on Sunday a 17-year-old died in the wreck and another person was at UAB Hospital in critical condition. Police reported six individuals were transported to hospitals.
“We try to deploy tire deflation devices to slow the pursuit down so that we don’t endanger our citizens any further,” McDearmond said. “Obviously, following behind and just chasing people around isn’t going to stop them, so our policy and our procedures here is to try to stop the chase before it gets into town very far.”
McDearmond said the suspect being chased in the police pursuit was Archie Brandon Hale, 40, of Moulton.
According to court records, Hale was on probation after pleading guilty to drug possession at the time of the crash but his probation was revoked Monday by the judge in that case, Morgan County Circuit Judge Charles Elliott.
According to court documents, Hale faces an attempt to elude and reckless endangerment charges in Morgan County, stemming from an arrest in June 2020, and court records indicate the case is still active.
Records show he also has a jury trial scheduled for Nov. 3 for a first-degree theft of property charge in Chambers County.
Hale pleaded guilty to attempting to elude police and criminal littering in 2008 in Lawrence County and was sentenced to six months in jail and has several drug convictions as well.
He’s had several charges and convictions for various offenses over the last 10 years, and his probation has been revoked several times.
“It doesn’t seem like the justice system has taught him a lesson anywhere,” McDearmond said of Hale. “All of his pending charges (from the pursuit) will be through Priceville.”
McDearmond said he spoke with Priceville police about obtaining the video from the dash cam of the officer who had initiated the chase and the investigation is still ongoing as to what or who actually caused the fatal wreck.
Priceville police were also involved in a separate 28-mile pursuit in August that reached speeds up to 120 mph and resulted in multiple accidents in Huntsville.
In a similar case in September 2023, Decatur police were involved in the pursuit of 16-year-old Harvest resident Jaiden DeJarnett. Police said an officer had initiated a traffic stop on DeJarnett’s vehicle for a traffic violation near Beltline Road Southwest and Danville Road.
The pursuit continued through Lawrence County and ended when DeJarnett crashed into a tree in Courtland, according to police. They said he was pronounced dead on the scene.
Orr said he has spoken with the Alabama Legislative Services Agency and asked them to look into setting more stringent guidelines for police chases in the state.
“I asked them to look into what other states have done to maybe bring some guardrails to the issue, so that we don’t have these hot pursuit incidents doing more harm that is more attributable to the pursuit than to the accused that is fleeing,” Orr said. “We have a loss of life, and the accused may have a small bag of marijuana or something. It does not compute for innocent bystanders or motorists to lose their lives when we are pursuing low-level infractions.”
Orr said he is not in favor of banning police pursuits altogether, especially in the case of individuals suspected of violent felonies, but does not believe a traffic violation should result in a police chase if it can potentially endanger human lives.
“That’s very different from if someone was going 80 miles per hour down I-65 and now we’ve got to chase him without regard to public safety at large,” Orr said. “That’s different.”
Under Alabama’s Fresh Pursuit Act, officers are allowed to leave their jurisdiction during a chase, but it all depends on the alleged crime. If the suspect is wanted for a misdemeanor, the pursuit can continue only into an adjoining county or in a different municipal jurisdiction within that county. For felony suspects, officers have the authority to pursue them anywhere in the state.
Priceville Police Chief Jerry Holmes could not immediately be reached for comment Monday.
— wesley.tomlinson@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2442.
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