Even after two teens died in a police chase, Knox County Sheriff's Office didn't investigate pursuit
Maria Gaspar had been 16 years old for all of five weeks when she went out on a Wednesday night in April with a Powell High School classmate.
The friendship or relationship, whatever it was, came on quickly. She had only recently introduced the boy to her parents.
“It was kind of weird at first because she never goes out,” her brother, Francisco Rogelio, later told Knox News. “She wasn’t like a girl who was into boys or anything, so it was kind of off, but we just thought she was getting to that age. She’s 16.”
That night, April 13, was the last time her family would see her.
The boy sped away from a deputy who attempted to pull him over after spotting him driving recklessly at around 11 p.m., according to the Knox County Sheriff’s Office. Police said he stole a woman’s license plate earlier in the day and was using it on his 2001 Chevrolet Silverado. (Knox News is not naming him because he is a minor, he wasn't charged and his family didn't agree to it.)
Seven minutes later after the chase started, reaching speeds of 75 mph on a two-lane road, the boy lost control. He drove up an unusually steep railroad crossing on Ball Camp Pike, went airborne and wrapped the truck around a tree. Both Maria and the boy were dead before rescue crews could get them out.
More: Driver and passenger who died in sheriff's chase were Powell High School students
Now, Maria’s family has questions, a lot of questions, that may never get answered. The Knox County Sheriff’s Office has refused to answer a number of questions Knox News has asked about the chase.
The Sheriff’s Office of Professional Standards didn’t investigate the wreck, something that's not required by department policy, unlike most law enforcement agencies.
Spokesperson Kimberly Glenn said in an email it is her understanding that supervisors "review any pursuit involving injury and/or death." That process, she said, typically involves supervisors watching body camera footage, reviewing the post-pursuit report and interviewing "anyone pertinent." This review does not produce a report, she said.
The chase itself is questionable. Most departments discourage or outright forbid officers from chasing drivers for nonviolent offenses, particularly when they reach speeds as high as they did in this case.
Because the Sheriff's Office does not equip cruisers with dash cameras, unlike the Knoxville Police Department and departments around the country, there is no way to verify how the boy was driving or why the deputy began the chase, and the Sheriff's Office has refused to provide further details.
Maria's family crushed by her loss
We met Maria’s family in their home one morning this spring. It was storming, the rain coming down in sheets. It was the kind of day where Maria’s brother and father sometimes stayed home from work when it was too wet to lay sod.
The curtains were drawn. The living room, a row of love seats and couches pushed back against the wall, was dark. The only light came from a skylight in the kitchen.
There were five of Maria's loved ones there — her mother, father, two young siblings and brother Francisco — but it was quiet. They were defeated.
Like many her age, Maria wanted to graduate but didn’t know what she wanted to do for a career. She liked sports and hanging out with friends and playing video games, particularly Roblox, which she played online for hours.
The family has attended Temple Baptist Church for some 20 years, ever since they made their way to Knoxville from Guatemala. It’s where Maria was baptized, grew up, made friends and learned about life.
Her father, Rogelio Francisco Francisco, has been praying constantly, trying to ease the pain. It doesn’t always work.
“Right now, he normally drives when he goes to work, but we haven’t let him drive,” Rogelio said. “Sometimes it just hits him out of nowhere and you don’t want him to wreck or anything.”
A representative from the family of the boy declined to comment for this story.
Chase policies run counter to most
The only document completed by the Sheriff’s Office aboutthe chase that killed the two 16-year-olds was a one-page post-pursuit report.
At the top of the report, it instructs police to “Provide ALL information available at time of report.” However, Deputy John Longendorf, who chased the pair, did not finish filling it out, leaving blank the “narrative” section and spaces for details about the vehicle and passengers.
Sheriff’s Office policy requires nothing further, a lack of detail at odds with how other departments handle pursuits.
Many departments don’t even allow officers to chase drivers unless the person is suspected of committing a violent felony. The Sheriff’s Office’s policy requires chases be terminated once there is a “clear and unreasonable danger to the officer, the suspect or other users of the highway.”
Instead of calling off the chase, Longendorf pursued the teens at speeds reaching 75 mph on two-laned Ball Camp Pike.
In body cam video footage after the wreck, Longendorf told another deputy he knew the railroad tracks were coming up and he braked hard. The teens did not.
“They hit that f------ railroad track and went sky high. ... They hit (the railroad tracks) and as soon as they hit, they lost it,” he said.
Other departments’ chase policies
Knoxville Police Department: KPD’s pursuit policy requires an officer to suspect a person has committed a felony or serious misdemeanor. Officers are to take into account their surroundings and whether the person could be captured later.
After a pursuit, even nonfatal pursuits, KPD policy requires an administrative review. This process includes a review by the officer's immediate supervisor, lieutenant and district commander. The pursuit report is then submitted to the Internal Affairs Unit for review. Once completed, the reports are public record.
Chattanooga Police Department: Chattanooga’s policy requires an officer to suspect a person has committed a violent felony. The department handbook gives a list of offenses that fall into this category: murder, manslaughter, aggravated assault, robbery, rape, aggravated kidnapping, child sexual assault, aggravated arson and felony reckless endangerment. The policy strictly forbids chases for “traffic offenses, misdemeanors, nonforcible felonies or when the suspect flees for an unknown reason.”
Like Knoxville’s policy, Chattanooga’s policy requires pursuit reports be sent through the chain of command to the division commander, who will review it and determine if an internal investigation is warranted. What’s more, the Chattanooga Training Unit commander conducts an annual review of all police pursuits “in an effort to reveal patterns or trends which could be predictive or indicate the following: program effectiveness, training needs, equipment upgrade needs, and/or policy modification needs.”
Metro Nashville Police Department: Nashville’s policy gives more leeway for officers to initiate a chase but requires the immediate danger of a pursuit be less than the potential danger to the public should the suspect remain at large. The policy requires the driver of the vehicle being pursued demonstrates a disregard for the safety of others regardless if the offense is a serious felony or a minor regulatory offense.
Nashville’s policy also requires a “critique session” in which the officers and their supervisors go over what went well and what didn't in the pursuit. This is to be completed within three days of the chase.
Atlanta Police Department: In early 2020, Atlanta outlawed all police chases after a number of fatal wrecks, but in January 2021 the department amended the policy and now allows chases when a felony has occurred. Chases for property offenses, misdemeanors, traffic offenses or civil infractions are forbidden.
KCSO stonewalls Maria's family
The Sheriff’s Office originally told Maria’s family it didn’t have any videos of the wreck, Rogelio said.
“But when I talked to the (Sheriff's Office) and said aren’t like the cameras supposed to be on and stuff ... so they told us they don’t have any videos of what happened,” he told Knox News. “So, (my family) is just curious why they don’t have their cameras on. They want to know what happened, you know. At least see what happened.”
When preparing to send Knox News the body camera footage of the wreck on June 15, public records coordinator Hillary Martin told Knox News in an email, “We were hoping to allow the family to view the footage first, but they've not been able to do so yet.”
Weeks later, the family told Knox News they have yet to be contacted about the footage.
After the story published Wednesday, Glenn said she was not aware of any efforts Maria’s family made to view the footage and that it was the family of the driver who requested a meeting with the Sheriff’s Office and had reviewed the footage.
Separately, Rogelio told Knox News he previously reached out to the Sheriff’s Office to learn more about his sister’s death and was told it was still under investigation.
But there was no investigation.
When asked by Knox News if any review was done, Glenn said, “Unless I’m told otherwise, we did not do an internal review.”
KCSO won't answer questions
The Sheriff's Office fought against the release of the body camera footage until Knox News obtained an opinion from the State Office of Open Records Counsel which said the agency was required by law to provide it. What the Sheriff's Office ultimately provided was heavily redacted.
Vehicles driven by Knox County Sheriff's Office deputies are not fitted with dash cameras Footage would likely have shown how the boy was driving and how he wrecked. Instead, all that is visible from the deputy's body cam is the steering wheel and the inside of the deputy's cruiser.
In response to a second attempt to get answers to questions about the chase, Glenn sent an email to Knox News: “To reiterate, Chief Workman said you are able to receive the public records portion of the request. He will not be answering any questions or making any comments about it."
The response is strange, said attorney Andrew Fels, who succeeded in representing University of Tennessee professor Meghan Conley in her lawsuit against the Sheriff’s Office seeking to obtain public records about immigration enforcement.
“Two kids die in a car accident after they were chased by a deputy. KCSO refuses to answer basically any of your substantive questions about what happened," he said. "The report itself has two lines of narrative. Very strange.”
Here are some of the questions Knox News posed that the Sheriff's Office has declined to answer:
Did the boy know the woman whose license plate he allegedly stole earlier that day or was it a random theft?
Can you describe how the boy was driving recklessly?
The incident report lists “unknown” regarding whether either teen was wearing their seat belt. Can you confirm whether they were or were not wearing them?
I have a copy of the Sheriff’s Office’s pursuit general order. Why was a pursuit deemed appropriate in this instance?
How far (in miles) did the officer pursue?
The family of the passenger, Ms. Gaspar, told me KCSO originally told them no video existed. Why was that the case?
Separately, they said the last time they reached out to KCSO they were told there was nothing for KCSO to provide because the wreck was still being investigated. However, Kimberly Glenn confirmed there was no further review done by KCSO beyond the (incomplete) post-pursuit report, so why was that the case?
The chase reached speeds up to 75 mph on a two-lane road. Why was the pursuit not terminated? KCSO’s general order for pursuits states, “The necessity for pursuit or apprehension must be balanced against the probability and severity of damage or injury that may result. If a pursuit creates a clear and unreasonable danger to the officer, the suspect or other users of the highway, the safety of all concerned may outweigh the necessity for immediate apprehension; and the pursuit shall be terminated.”
KCSO general orders for pursuits does not require an investigation or review, presumably even when they are fatal. Why is that?
Tyler Whetstone is an investigative reporter focused on accountability journalism
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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Knox County Sheriff's Office does not require review of police chases
