An internal review by the Greenwood Police Department of a Sept. 9 high-speed chase through the city found no policy violations by the department’s officers.
The probe was conducted after Maurice Hurt, 32, 600 Ave. I, led police on a lengthy early-morning chase through much of the city.
At one point during the chase, Greenwood Police Chief Ray Moore said, Hurt — traveling at a high rate of speed — swerved toward a policeman. After that, Moore said, an unnamed officer fired his weapon, “striking the vehicle in an attempt to stop the pursuit.”
The chase started after officers attempted to pull Hurt over after the suspect ran a stop sign at the intersection of Avenue F and Ash Street at around 2:45 a.m. It ended about 40 minutes later at the intersection of Linden Avenue and U.S. 82.
Internal affairs investigators from the department interviewed the officers involved in the chase and also reviewed video footage from cameras installed on the dashboards of the police cars. The investigation concluded that the officers were justified in pursuing Hurt and in firing a weapon at Hurt’s vehicle, Moore said.
“We found no policy violations,” Moore said this morning.
The chief also said he has reviewed the department’s pursuit policy but didn’t see any need for changes at the moment.
“Any time we have a felony pursuit like that, you look at the whole totality of the circumstances and how the officers behaved,” Moore said. “At this particular time, our pursuit policy seems like it’s pretty well covering our needs.”
Generally, Moore said, officers are instructed to use discretion and not pursue suspects through crowded areas of town or during busy hours of the day.
“We’re not going to barrel through the middle of downtown Greenwood at 12:00 in the day just because someone ran a stop sign,” Moore said. “That’s ludicrous.”
Officers have some discretion about when to pursue fleeing suspects, and the policy allows them to adjust to each situation, Moore said. “It’s kind of hard to have a cookie-cutter policy, because each chase is different.”
The chief added that shift supervisors have “total authority to call off the chase at any time.”
Hurt is out on $10,000 bond. He has been charged with attempted aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer, two counts of felony evading and 23 misdemeanor traffic charges, including 18 counts of disregarding a traffic device.
• Contact Bryn Stole at 581-7235 or bstole@gwcommonwealth.com.
