and MONROE ROARK

[email protected]

Angered by a 100 mph fatal

chase that began and ended outside his jurisdiction, Peachtree City Police

Chief James Murray is calling on President George Bush and Gov. Roy Barnes

to help limit such police pursuits.

Murray is calling on President

Bush "to put together a national panel of elected officials to examine"

the issue. He also wrote to Gov. Barnes and asked that state law be changed

to limit police pursuits.

"This high-speed police

chase carnage has to stop," Murray wrote the governor. Murray was

reacting to the death of a Peachtree City man, killed Saturday night when

a woman fleeing Luthersville police crashed into his white minivan at

the eastern city limits, according to the Georgia State Patrol. The complete

text of Murray's letter to Barnes can be found on Page 5A of today's edition.

Norman Charles Vicha, 41, was

killed instantly when the collision occurred at 7:25 p.m., said Gordy

Wright of the Georgia State Patrol. Vicha was attempting to turn left

onto Ga. Highway 54 East when a Ford Explorer struck his vehicle on the

driver's side, according to witnesses, Wright said. Witnesses also told

troopers that Vicha had the green light when the collision occurred, Wright

added.

It took 20 minutes to remove

all of the victims from their vehicles, according to the Fayette County

Department of Fire and Emergency Services.

The driver of the Ford Expedition,

Loraine McCrary, 37, of Jonesboro, was airlifted to Grady Memorial Hospital

in critical condition, Wright said. Although GSP investigators found evidence

of alcohol being present in the vehicle, it will be several weeks before

blood alcohol results will be available, Wright said.

McCrary remained in critical

condition as of noon Tuesday.

The chase began in Luthersville

in Meriwether County, southwest of Peachtree City, where McCrary drove

away when a police officer tried to make a traffic stop. She was pursued

of the Peachtree East shopping center at the intersection of Ga. Highway

54 and Broken Bow Drive, at the eastern edge of Peachtree City.

Three children who were in

McCrary's vehicle also were injured, although all three wore seat belts,

Wright said. Tonisha Millens, 7, was the most seriously injured of the

three and was airlifted to Scottish Rite Hospital, where she remained

in serious condition as of noon Tuesday. Jermaine Millens, 6, and Diandre

Millens, 1, were both treated and released from the hospital for their

injuries, Wright said. The 1-year-old was secured in a car seat, Wright

added.

There were no passengers in

Vicha's vehicle, according to the FCDFES report.

The crash is still under investigation

case. The team plans to revisit the scene later this week and take measurements

to try and determine what occurred during the collision, Wright said.

After the separate investigations

of the trooper and the team are complete, the GSP will present its case

to the Fayette County District Attorney's office to determine which charges

will be prosecuted, Wright said. A representative of the DA's office was

on the scene Saturday night to assist with the investigation, Wright added.

Troopers had trouble identifying

McCrary since they found several papers in the vehicle listing her name

in several different varieties, Wright said. Those papers also had conflicting

dates of birth listed for McCrary, he added.

Those leads, and others, will

likely be followed up on by other police agencies, Wright said.

This is the second death this

year in Fayette County resulting from a motorist's attempts to escape

police. Union City veterinarian Jason Andrew Trotman was killed March

31 in Fayetteville when his vehicle was struck at a traffic light by two

men fleeing police after a robbery of a local grocery store.

Officers in Peachtree City

were busy trying to block intersections and keep innocent motorists and

bystanders from being involved, Murray wrote. Police in Peachtree City

have one the most restrictive police chase policies in the state, he added.

"The theory that failure

to chase would send the word that you can run from police does not hold

water," Murray wrote. "That is why police have radios. In most

cases, suspects will find a way to leave the vehicle once they feel they

can get away without being caught."

Although Luthersville officials

did not specify the reason for the initial stop of McCrary or why the

chase began, Murray said in the letter that it involved leaving the scene

of an accident and a suspicion of driving under the influence.

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