Original Article Police chase that led to crash violated policy, memo says Holly Johnson The Arizona Republic Jul. 30, 2005 12:00 AM Scottsdale police violated department policy by pursuing a wrong-way driver on Loop 101 that resulted in a deadly crash in April, an internal Police Department memo shows. The findings come a month after Scottsdale police maintained that the chase was not out of policy and weeks after Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas announced he would seek the death penalty against driver David James Szymanski, who crashed head-on into a Ford Escort, killing a 22-year-old Scottsdale man. The Scottsdale report comes as a number of Valley police departments are tightening their pursuit policies and training procedures. Phoenix is revising its already-restrictive policy. Changes will take effect in September, Phoenix police Detective Tony Morales said. Phoenix officers will only chase known, violent felons, a similar policy to that of the Peoria Police Department. In 2003, the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office changed its pursuit policy, barring deputies from chasing drivers suspected of committing minor traffic violations or property crimes. That change came seven years after a suspect being tailed by sheriff's deputies slammed into Jennifer Lynn Rice's car weeks before her wedding. In the years since her daughter's death, Liz Rice, a Valley nurse, has worked with Sen. Linda Aguirre, D-Phoenix, for a state law that would monitor rules regarding the decision to initiate pursuits. This year, the bill died in committee. For Rice, it was a bitter loss. Strengthening state oversight of pursuits is "the right thing to do," she said. But Phoenix's Morales said the law wouldn't be practical. "Each one of these situations has its own intricacies and characteristics and working and moving parts. For someone to throw up a law that says you can't do this and you can't do that, that just wouldn't be a good idea at all." In California, similar efforts over the past two years were thwarted in the state Legislature. Kristie Priano, 15, was sitting in the back seat of her mother's minivan in a Chico, Calif., neighborhood when an unlicensed driver rammed their car, killing Kristie. The driver, also a 15-year-old girl, was being pursued by local police and fled. California Sen. Sam Aenestad unsuccessfully attempted to pass "Kristie's Law," a bill that would have created a statewide policy for imminent peril, meaning departments were only to pursue if the person fleeing was a violent felon, similar to the Phoenix police policy. In California, police may not be held legally accountable if they do not follow pursuit policies. "Kristie was an innocent bystander," said Kristie's mother, Candy Priano. "As more and more departments change to more restrictive policies, you see studies that are proving those policies save lives and do not make crime go up." The review of the deadly Scottsdale crash made several recommendations, including more training and a clearer definition of the term "terminate the pursuit." According to police reports, Szymanski had been drinking and was harassing an ex-girlfriend at an apartment complex. Officers tried to stop him as he was driving, but he refused to yield to flashing lights and sirens. The report says that Officer Carrie Candler followed Szymanski as he ran a stop sign and seven red lights and sped through the streets of south Scottsdale at speeds 20-35 mph above the posted limit. When Szymanski reached the 8600 block of East McDonald Drive, he maneuvered his Chevrolet Cavalier northbound on the southbound lanes of Loop 101. Moments later, he crashed into a southbound Ford Escort, killing 22-year-old Cody Brett Morrison, who was on his way home from a concert in the West Valley. His parents, Mark and Denise, declined comment on the findings. But their attorney, Matt Wright, said the report was "consistent with what we expected to see." Police Chief Alan Rodbell would not comment on the findings Friday.