Deadly Decisions: How the Redstone Arsenal crash unfolded
Immediately following the deadly police chase chronicled in the story above, I requested a series of documents from the Huntsville Police Department. Several officers had told me (off the record, unfortunately) that the chase was unnecessary and continued for much longer than it should have. I asked for the following documents, knowing that I would likely gain significant insight into the chase and the decisions made:
- All audio recordings related to the chase, including but not limited to recorded conversations between officers and supervisors, police dispatchers and Redstone Arsenal personnel, and citizens and dispatchers
- The department’s pursuit policy and use of deadly force policy
- All “after action” reports from pursuits since Jan. 1, 2003, to the current date
- Video from the dashboard cameras of any pursuit vehicles
- Data pertaining to police pursuits from Jan. 1, 2003, to the current date (number of pursuits initiated, dates and times, locations, length of pursuit in miles and in minutes, average and maximum speeds of patrol cars and the outcome of the pursuit)
For the most part, my requests were granted. We received the documents a week before the story ran. We were denied the After Action reports because they are internal investigative documents (Ala. Code § 12-21-3.1) and there were no video cameras in the patrol cars in pursuit.
The story and its two sidebars, written by Times staff writer John Peck, are featured below. I have also included links to our additional online coverage.
Click here to listen to the 911 tapes we obtained, to see an interactive Google map of the chase map, to read court documents relating to the arrest of the suspect and to see a transcript of the included audio.
