Police in Fairfax County, Virginia, are committed to establishing a stronger policy for foot chases following a deadly shooting that occurred during a chase earlier this year.
“When we put a policy forward, we want it to actually be a policy and not just a regurgitation of ‘refer to your training,'” county police Chief Kevin Davis said.
According to Davis, the department is currently collecting data on every foot chase that officers are involved in to inform a new policy that could be ready by early 2024.
The data collection began shortly after the February shooting death of Timothy Johnson, an unarmed shoplifting suspect. A security guard said Johnson stole sunglasses from a Nordstrom department store at Tysons Corner Center.
Two officers chased Johnson into a wooded area outside the mall and both officers fired shots. An investigation determined that one of the officers, Wesley Shifflett, fired the fatal shot. Shifflett was fired after the shooting.
“We know it’s important,” said Davis. “We’ve had some enlightening observations since we started collecting our foot pursuit data.”
According to Davis, Fairfax County police are involved in “about six foot pursuits a week.”
“We’ve learned a lot of things about time of day and geography and circumstances,” Davis said of the current data collection.
Police released dimly lit video following the February incident showing a nighttime foot chase that lasted less than two minutes.
In a slow-motion version of the video, it sounds as though two shots were fired after an officer yelled “get on the ground” but just before shouting “stop reaching.”
After the shooting, the body camera video records Shifflett telling another officer he saw Johnson “continually reaching in his waistband.”
A special grand jury is now considering whether to bring charges against Shifflett.
The empanelment of the special grand jury came after a regular grand jury declined to indict Shifflett in the case.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
