Fairfax Police Did Not Disclose Crash Details

The police car, a 2005 Ford Crown Victoria, was heading south on Columbia Pike when the cruiser struck Baboota's Accord. Weinhaus veered into a signpost and was not seriously hurt.

Police believe Baboota's Accord spun 180 degrees and then shot over a concrete median, across three traffic lanes, over a curb and down an embankment into the front yard of Fares Alnajjar, who was standing nearby.

Based on crash calculations, police said the officer was driving no faster than 45 mph -- or 10 miles over the speed limit.

Officers in emergency situations are allowed to ignore speed limits and traffic signals. Perez said Weinhaus had been dispatched to a fight in which five or six people reportedly were beating one person, so the officer chose to activate his lights and siren and hurry to the incident.

Capt. Jesse Bowman, head of the police traffic unit, said no police official would have told the family that the officer was involved in a chase at the time of the crash because investigators knew from the start that Weinhaus was not pursuing anyone. Sinha and others were adamant that they were told the officer was in a chase.

Bowman could not say definitively how Baboota's Accord traveled over a median and a curb and perhaps 50 yards after the impact but said it wasn't unusual. "I've seen this," he said. "They just do." He theorized that Baboota, who was trying to drive through an intersection when he was hit, may have stepped on the accelerator on impact.

Police declined to make their witnesses available or allow a reporter to listen to a tape of Weinhaus's transmissions to confirm the siren was on, because of the internal investigation.

If Weinhaus did not have his lights and siren on, "that would be a problem," Bowman said.

"It's an absolute tragedy," Bowman said. In addition to Baboota's death, Weinhaus was deeply affected, Bowman said. "It's going to be with him for the rest of his life, not just for the rest of his career." Weinhaus declined to comment.

But Alnajjar said in an interview that Weinhaus did not have his siren on. Alnajjar said he was in his front yard with his back to the intersection, which is directly in front of his house. He did not see the crash.

"If I heard a siren, I have to look," Alnajjar said. "I would have seen the accident."

Enrique Osorio, who was driving on Columbia Pike, also said in an interview that he did not see the impact, but "suddenly I heard kind of an explosion on my left side." He saw the police cruiser strike the signpost and Baboota's car traveling slowly across Columbia Pike. Osorio said he was "90 percent sure" the officer did not have his lights or siren on, both because he didn't hear it and because he said "traffic was fluid" and not stopping on Columbia Pike.

Police said they were told Baboota's injuries were not life-threatening. Bowman said that when an officer went to Inova Fairfax Hospital several days later, Baboota was in stable condition.

Sinha said that her father was placed under forced sedation because of swelling in the brain and that doctors were hopeful it would recede. After 11 days, his condition began deteriorating, and he died two days after that, on Feb. 5.

Fairfax police are involved in about 350 crashes a year, Perez said, from fender-benders to serious collisions. But large police departments such as Fairfax, with roughly 1,300 officers, drive millions of miles in a year. Perez said the Fairfax police crash rate for every 100,000 miles was 2.18 last year and 2.58 the year before.

More than 400 of Baboota's friends and relatives packed a funeral two days after his death. "It's been more than two months since my dad died," his daughter Kavita Baboota said. "Not a day goes by that we don't get a condolence card from people that knew him for 30 years."

Baboota was born in the Punjab region of India and came to this country in 1967. He married his wife, Shashi, in 1970 and raised their two daughters in Vienna. In addition to the Baileys Crossroads BP where he spent most of his time, Baboota owned the Fair Oaks Amoco, Columbia Pike Amoco in Arlington, the Chesterbrook Amoco in McLean and the Lincolnia Gulf.

"He was a very kind man," said Robert Varma, his brother-in-law. "He helped a lot of people in his community. He helped people get their green cards. He helped people fix their cars" and often forgave debts of those who couldn't pay, Varma said.