Police Radar Shows Speeds of Up to 100 MPH Before Crashes Off an Exit Ramp in Baltimore
By Aaron C. Davis
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, June 20, 2008
The Heureaux brothers were riding motorcycles, heading north on Interstate 95 near Laurel, when at speeds of nearly 100 mph they raced by a state police trooper armed with a radar gun.
The trooper pulled his car out and turned on his lights, a state police spokesman said yesterday, describing the events of Sunday. About 16 miles later, Suky Amin Heureaux, 25, and Suky Shamin Heureaux, 24, died in nearly simultaneous crashes on an exit ramp in Baltimore.
Today, in Prince George's County, a wake will be held for the brothers, one of whom was riding a stolen bike, police said. The service will be attended by family and friends from the Washington area's Dominican community, some of whom wonder whether the trooper chased the brothers, a contention police deny.
"They tell me they were racing, that's all they tell me," Maximo Heureaux, 45, who shared his home in Landover with his sons, said of his limited contact with investigators. "I don't believe the police; nobody here believes the police. We all need to know what really happened."
Sgt. Arthur Betts, a police spokesman, denied that there was a chase and said the trooper, James Davis, appears to have followed state police policies.
"This all could have been prevented if they had stopped," Betts said of the brothers. "The trooper didn't do anything to make them crash their motorcycles."
Police declined to released the agency's pursuit policy yesterday, saying the agency must receive a mailed written request before doing so. Betts, however, said that unlike in many area jurisdictions that only allow police to pursue felony suspects, Maryland state troopers are allowed to chase traffic violators.
The issue has special resonance in the Maryland suburbs. Last year, a Prince George's County police officer's pursuit of a motorcyclist on the Capital Beltway led to a fatal seven-car pileup; the officer has been indicted on two counts of vehicular manslaughter.
Betts said Davis clocked three bikers traveling north at about 100 mph near the exit to Maryland Route 32. Betts said Davis pulled his car onto the highway, two bikers pulled over, and what he thought was one biker -- it turned out to be two -- kept going.
Davis did not stop to write a ticket. Davis tried to "catch up" with the remaining biker but did not chase him, Betts said. Davis did not request permission to initiate a high-speed pursuit, which would have required a supervisor's approval, Betts said.
Betts declined to release Davis's maximum speed. He said Davis only lost sight of the biker at the entrance to the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel on Interstate 895 in Baltimore, shortly before the crashes Sunday.
With the brothers that day was Pedro Gervacio, 31, who was the lead rider as the three neared Route 32. Gervacio said a fourth motorcycle had been with the group, but he was not sure if the rider was with the group when they passed the police car.
At the tunnel's toll plaza, Davis stopped to see whether cameras recorded the bike's license plates. The brothers crashed after exiting the tunnel; each was thrown off an elevated highway as he attempted to negotiate the off-ramp to Holabird Avenue.
Friends of the brothers, both of whom were fathers, said they probably fled because they had recently learned from a friend that one of the bikes, bought this spring from an acquaintance, had been reported stolen. Suky Shamin also might have been driving with a suspended license, court records show.
Gervacio said he saw the police car, lifted his right arm and tapped the top of his helmet, a signal to the others that an officer was ahead. They slowed, Gervacio said, and he did not see the trooper leave his post. More than three miles later, however, Gervacio said he looked in his rear-view mirror and saw the trooper closing fast with his lights and sirens on.
Gervacio said he pulled over, but the brothers kept going north on I-95, faster than they had when they first passed the police officer at the side of the road. Gervacio said the trooper also was clearly chasing both brothers at that point. He estimated that the cruiser was five car lengths behind the two bikes.
"That's the last time I saw any of them," Gervacio said.
Several minutes later, an employee at a trucking company at the base of Holabird exit heard the crash and called police after he saw a black helmet rolling down the exit ramp. The police were not far behind, he said.
"When I was on the phone, I could hear the sirens," said the employee, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he said he had a prior criminal record and feared retaliation by police.
The body of Suky Shamin traveled 150 feet beyond the elevated ramp before landing near a railroad line. The body of Suky Amin was found below the ramp.
For Maximo Heureaux, an employee of the Maryland-National Capital Parks and Planning Commission, the deaths ended a link that he said went with the nickname he had bestowed on both sons. As a young child in the Dominican Republic, Maximo said he was known for yelling "Suky" when he saw neighborhood boys riding Suzukis by his parents' home.
"It was my lucky nickname," he said. "I gave it to both of them."
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