Wilmington police chief says chase, crash will be reviewed

Wilmington's police chief said his officers were chasing a violent person wanted for questioning in murder cases Wednesday when they crossed into Pennsylvania and crashed, injuring several people, including two officers.

Police are still investigating whether the chase was appropriate, the chief said Thursday.

The stretch of interstate between Wilmington and Philadelphia International Airport was the setting for two police chases Wednesday, the first by city police and one later in the day by state police. Both pursuits ended in crashes, but only one arrest was made. 

After some confusion the day before, Wilmington Police Chief Robert Tracy said Thursday his officers believed Dejuan Robinson, a 20-year-old tied to Wilmington's Touch Money Gang, was in the car they tried to stop Wednesday before it fled on I-95. 

The chase started around 11 a.m. in the area of E. 12th Street and Rosemont Avenue, Wilmington police said. The car refused to stop, got onto I-495 and then onto I-95.

The fleeing car rammed another motorist near Philadelphia International Airport, before the pursuing Wilmington officers crashed, leaving one police car flipped and two officers injured. They were treated and released. 

Several people in the third car, including a 3-year-old boy, also were hurt in the crash. The car police chased continued north and the fleeing car hit a SEPTA bus, Wilmington police said.

"This is all very fresh. Every pursuit, every chase is reviewed and investigated by the police department as per policy," Tracy said Thursday during a press conference celebrating steeply declining shooting numbers in Wilmington. "Who we were trying to apprehend, that person had a dangerous history, and that's how this thing started." 

Tracy said police policy allows officers to chase felony suspects outside their jurisdiction, even over state lines, but he said there hasn't been time yet for a full review in this case.

"We have to take a strong look at these policies and how we do it and review it. If it's a training issue, yes, we'll deal with it as a training issue. If it's a disciplinary issue and things weren't followed, yes, we'll address that pretty seriously," Tracy said. 

Police pursuit policies across the country have changed in recent years to allow fewer chases because they often end with police, fleeing drivers and other people on the roads hurt or killed, said Geoffrey Alpert, a national expert on police pursuits and use of force. 

"If 30 minutes later you're still chasing a someone at 100 mph, you ought to be asking why," Alpert said. "If someone is known to have committed a violent crime, that apprehension is very important, but you still have to balance that against the risk." 

The U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics last year released a report on police chases which said an average of 355 people a year died in pursuit-related crashes between 1996 and 2015. Twenty-two of those deaths were in Delaware.

"Departments around the country are tightening up their policies and restricting them," Alpert said, referring to the report findings. "Pursuits should be limited to violent crimes." 

Tracy said Robinson "had a violent history with violation of probation" and was the target of the police stop in Wilmington which led to the chase into Pennsylvania. He did not make a case Thursday that Robinson's arrest was an immediate public safety concern.

"He's a person of interest in some violent crimes," Tracy said. "We were trying to make the arrest at the time of this individual for other charges that he violated, gun charges."

Last year, Alpert criticized parts of the Delaware State Police pursuit policy as old fashioned in that it gives too much freedom to officers in making a decision to pursue. He said modern policies take that responsibility from officers and give it to commanders.

State police rejected that criticism, levied shortly after a trooper in a marked police Chevy Tahoe collided with a burglary suspect on a bicycle after a pursuit. The state department of justice later ruled the death an accident and no charges were filed.

State Police Spokesman Sgt. Richard Bratz said the agency takes pride in its policies and is open to changing them when necessary. He said there was an internal review after that death last summer but their pursuit policy is the same as it was before. 

A trooper led another chase Wednesday evening, but handed it off to Pennsylvania troopers after crossing the state line. The man they chased drove extremely recklessly. 

State police said Kyle Merena was going north in the southbound lanes of I-95 around 7:15 p.m. and they chased him over the state line after he changed direction by driving over the median, then hit traffic and returned to the south lanes still going north. 

Pennsylvania troopers took the lead in the chase over the state line, but Delaware state police said Merena crashed with a Pennsylvania trooper and then tried to flee on foot. 

Bratz said all trooper pursuits are reviewed by police administrators. He said the wrong-way driver on the interstate Wednesday was worth pursuing, but factors such as weather, traffic conditions and overall safety play into whether supervisors will allow a chase to continue on a case-to-case basis. 

Wednesday's two police chases came after yet another pursuit from Delaware into Pennsylvania earlier this month. In that chase, a Delaware man fleeing police crashed and killed three people, two of whom were in a Mummer's Day Parade marching band. 

Contact Adam Duvernay at (302) 319-1855 or aduvernay@delawareonline.com

POLICE PURSUITS 

Recent Delaware police chases put scrutiny on pursuit policies

Another multi-state police chase: Wrong-way driver on I-95 crashes in Pennsylvania

Delaware man arraigned from hospital bed in Philadelphia crash that killed Mummers