CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – There have been two high-speed police chases in the past two weeks and officials in both Albemarle County and Charlottesville say those types of incidents present a real danger to both the public and law enforcement. 

“One simple mistake that you could get by with at 45 miles per hour or 55 miles per hour, you may not be able to get by with that at 70 or 80 or 90,” Maj. Randy Jamerson, ACPD deputy chief, told Cville Right Now. “That’s what makes it so dangerous.”

On Aug. 29, a high-speed pursuit that began in Albemarle County ended when the suspect’s vehicle crashed in the city, at the intersection of Carlton Ave. and Carlton Rd. in the Belmont neighborhood. A suspect fled on foot but was apprehended.

Monday, city officers pursued three shooting suspects in a stolen vehicle into the county. That chase resulted in the suspects wrecking the car on Scottsville Rd. Two suspects fled the scene on foot. One, a juvenile, was caught by the police the next day. A second juvenile was injured when the car went off the road and was apprehended at the scene. A third is still at-large.

In both cases, officers engaged in what is commonly referred to as hot pursuit, chasing suspect vehicles at high speeds.

“It’s a significant risk when we talk about vehicle pursuits,” Charlottesville police chief Michael Kochis told Cville Right Now. “It’s very dangerous.” 

Within the city limits, high speed chases are not common. But the tighter, more crowded spaces present their own set of challenges.

And some crimes are serious enough that city police will pursue suspects into more rural areas, sometimes at high speed. City police policy allows for a high-speed pursuit when chasing suspects connected with violent crimes, misdemeanors involving firearms and car thefts. 

“We’re different than the county,” Kochis said. “Parts of the county are wide open. It’s rural areas. In the city we don’t have areas like that. It’s a very condensed area. So for us, our pursuit policy is very restrictive.”

Of course, both Kochis and Jamerson noted that police officers get specialized training, beginning in the academy, to prepare them for a variety of driving-related challenges.

That training includes high-speed serpentine courses, backwards driving work and education about vehicles and their systems to understand the limitations of their vehicles, Jamerson said.

And when officers are involved in high-speed pursuits, they always have the option of terminating the chase for a number of reasons, including if they determine public safety or their own safety is being unduly endangered.

All pursuits are also radioed to both dispatch and a supervisor, and those supervisors have the authority to terminate the chase at any point, as well. 

Jamerson said the goal is to avoid high-speed pursuits or end them quickly. ACPD is trained to use techniques including a precision immobilization technique, where a police vehicle will intentionally strike a violator’s vehicle’s quarter panel to turn it sideways and stop its traction.

Police can also use rolling roadblocks, where multiple police vehicles essentially box in a violator’s vehicle, bringing it to a gradual stop, Jamerson said.

And the police can deploy devices to deflate the tires on a violator’s vehicle.

“People flee the police on a regular basis. That’s nothing new,” Jamerson said. “Whether it’s on foot or it’s in a vehicle. The question becomes, how far do the police go in trying to apprehend those people? There are numerous things that are taken into account on how far we’ll push that to catch that person. What’s the risk versus the reward.”