Late Saturday night and early Sunday morning, police officers started to set up a cordon around the Hess gas station on Wilson.
They were looking for a stolen car and drugs. But before all the police were in place, the car drove away, fleeing for safety, for a brief moment.
Police gave chase, but almost as soon as it began, the pursuit was over, as the car slammed into the back of the Eckerd drugstore on Lee Highway, killing two of the cars passengers, injuring two others, and wounding the driver – all teenagers.
The scene at the drugstore was horrifying, even for police.
"I got there around 1 a.m.," Police Chief Edward Flynn said Monday, "and saw the carnage. It’s difficult for us, for our officers."
But Flynn, at a press conference Monday, defended his officers’ actions over the weekend, and said there was no sign they had started a high-speed chase, or that they had driven the teens to their death.
"This tragedy was born out of immature judgment and reckless behavior," he said. "Kids sometimes think they’re immortal."
<b>Stolen Car</b>
<bt>According to police reports, the incident began shortly before midnight on Saturday, Feb. 2. An employee of the Hess gas station at 3299 Wilson Blvd. called police, asking them to check out a car sitting in the gas station. The employee suspected the people in the car were using drugs, Flynn said.
One cruiser stopped near the Hess station, running the car’s tags as officers watched the car. The car had been reported as stolen from Arlington on Friday.
Officers called in backup, attempting to box in the car, but before all police cars were in place, the driver apparently saw the cruiser and sped off, fleeing north on Kirkwood Road.
"Less than one minute later, less than one mile from the Hess station, the car crashed," Flynn said. The driver apparently lost control of the car on a curve, running headfirst into the drugstore.
Two teenagers died immediately, and another, 15-year-old Ashley Burlison, died just before 3 p.m. Sunday at an area hospital. Her brother, 14-year-old Kyle Burlison, survived the crash, as did the 17-year-old driver of the vehicle.
At Washington-Lee High School, where the three teenagers who died attended school, counselors were on standby all day on Monday, with local professionals supplementing the school’s own counseling staff.
"School staff have known the importance of this forever," said Linda Erdos, director of communications for Arlington schools. With the accusations of drugs and a stolen car hanging over the crash, counselors and staff had to be especially sensitive, she said.
"We have to be careful not to speculate, and just listen to the kids," Erdos said.
<b>Pursuits Down</b>
<bt>Flynn said he had no information yet on whether drugs or alcohol were involved in the crash. He also defended police decisions Monday, when questions arose about the rationale for the chase.
"This was not a long caravan of police cars pursuing this car," he said. Police were on parallel roads, and on I-66. But they were not wantonly speeding through residential neighborhoods, he said: "It was high speed by the person fleeing, and there was limited time to evaluate the situation."
Officers were well within their limits, he said. They didn’t jump out and approach the teens immediately, but waited until they knew the car was stolen. They didn’t chase the car immediately, he said, but tried to box the car in, to prevent a high-speed pursuit.
But even if police had engaged in pursuit, he said, they would have been following department regulations. Officers must consider the time of the day, the neighborhood, the weather, other people on the streets, and the seriousness of the crime involved before engaging in pursuit — standards, he said, that meant fewer police pursuits in general.
"Twenty percent of pursuits last year were terminated" under the regulations, Flynn said. Police pursuits overall have been down in Arlington, falling from 42 in 1998 to 21 last year. One pursuit in 2001 led to a fatality, as police pursued a motorscooter at low speed.
Whatever the circumstances of the pursuit last weekend, Flynn said, it was a community tragedy, and especially painful for the parents of the teenagers who died.
"I know for some kids in the car, their parents were concerned about the company they were keeping," he said. Teenagers might defy parental restrictions, he said, "but I urge parents not to give up."