By Ron Gallagher and Virginia Bridges
The News & Observer
DURHAM, N.C. — The person killed Thursday night in a three-way crash at Club Boulevard and North Duke Street that ended a police chase of a car that had been reported stolen at gunpoint was a Durham County detention officer, officials said Friday.
Police said Friday morning that Brooke Lyn Maynard, 24, of Durham was killed while driving a Hyundai – one of the two cars that police said were hit by a car they were chasing.
Maynard was a detention officer for the Durham County Sheriff’s Office. Maynard began her career with the Sheriff’s Office in November 2017 and was a recent graduate of the Sheriff’s Office Basic Detention Officer Training Academy, according to a Sheriff’s Office statements.
“The Durham County Sheriff’s Office would like to express their deepest condolences to the family and friends of Brooke Maynard,” the statement said. “Her dedication and hard work in her short time with us will leave a lasting impression on all of her Sheriff’s Office family.”
A relative said Maynard has a 4-year-old daughter and was a beautiful person, inside and out, but declined to comment further at this time.
Two people who were in the car police were chasing, a Honda Accord, were hurt along with two people in a Chevrolet Impala that the fleeing car hit, police spokesman Wil Glenn said.
Their names have not been released.
The Honda had been reported stolen at gunpoint, Glenn said in a statement issued late Thursday.
Police officers saw the car at South Elizabeth and Ramseur streets and tried to stop it, the statement said. The intersection is near the Durham County Health and Human Services building and the under-construction Police Department headquarters in downtown Durham.
It fled, and that began the chase, he said.
Police sent detectives, crash investigators and members of the Professional Standards Division to the crash scene to look into the way the wreck happened, the theft and the conditions of the chase, the statement said.
According to the Police Department’s General Orders, officers can engage in a vehicle pursuit when he or she believes that someone has committed a violent felony and “poses a threat of serious injury to the public or other police officers if she/he is not apprehended immediately.”
Pursuits are not allowed when the lead officer pursuing the vehicle feels the hazard created by the pursuit outweighs the necessity of immediate apprehension, or when the officer can identify the suspect and apprehend at a later date and they don’t pose a serious threat of injury to public of police, the policy states.
“An officer’s immediate obligation in a vehicle pursuit is to ensure the safety of the public without duplicating the irresponsible behavior of the fleeing suspect,” the policy on considering pursuits states.
The risks that officers need to consider include, likelihood of an apprehension and whether the identity of the person is known, the policy states.
Officers are also asked to consider degree of risk, to include, volume and speed, traffic, population density, pedestrian frequency, whether an area is in a residential or commercial area, and weather hazards.
Supervisor’s responsibilities include assuming command of the response and monitoring information and conditions to determine whether the pursuit should continue or terminated the policy states.
©2018 The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.)