The Washington Post
August 6, 1999, Friday, Final Edition
Cause of Death Still Uncertain in Beltway Chase; Autopsy
Results Awaited to Determine Among Suicide, Crash or Police Shooting
BYLINE: Craig Whitlock, Washington Post Staff Writer
SECTION: METRO; Pg. B02
LENGTH: 705 words
The Maryland chief medical examiner's office still has not
issued a ruling on the cause and manner of the death of an Alexandria man
killed in a police chase and shootout on the Capital Beltway last week, leaving
open the question of whether the man killed himself, died of injuries sustained
in a fiery car crash or was fatally shot by a police officer.
Prince George's County police, who are investigating the
death of Merachew Lucas Fitigu, 24, said yesterday that they believe he may
have committed suicide by shooting himself in the head after leading Fairfax
police on a 10-mile chase on the Beltway on July 27. But they cautioned that
they have not ruled out other explanations for his death.
"Preliminarily, we are looking into the possibility
that the suspect committed suicide," said Prince George's police spokesman
Royce D. Holloway. He said police expect to complete the investigation soon
after they receive a final autopsy report from the state medical examiner's
office in Baltimore, perhaps within a week.
But authorities have not released any specific information
about the final minutes of Fitigu's life, such as whether they believe he shot
himself before or after the crash, or what prompted a Fairfax County police
officer to shoot at Fitigu as he sat in his burning car.
Prince George's police are investigating the case because
Fitigu died in the county after leading Fairfax police on a chase from Virginia
across the Woodrow Wilson Bridge. Police said they found a 9mm semiautomatic
pistol, 1.75 pounds of marijuana and $ 1,000 cash in Fitigu's black Pontiac
Trans Am after he crashed into a guardrail just north of the Temple Hill Road
overpass.
Authorities have refused to say whether the gun found in the
car had been fired or whether any shell casings were recovered from the scene
of the crash. Police have said they found shell casings on the Virginia side of
the Wilson Bridge.
Relatives of Fitigu, the son of an Ethiopian diplomat, said
they are upset at the lack of clear answers. "We stand around, but we have
no idea what to say or what to think," Fitigu's sister, Yodit Fitigu, 27,
said in an interview.
Dressed in traditional black Ethiopian mourning clothes
outside her mother's apartment in Fairfax, Yodit Fitigu said the family has not
heard from Prince George's investigators since last week, when police indicated
that they believed Fitigu had committed suicide.
Fairfax police officials have said their pursuit of Fitigu
began when he passed through a radar monitor in the Kingstowne area of the
county. He eluded police there, but the pursuit picked up again on the Beltway
after officers said they saw Fitigu driving erratically. As Fitigu and three
patrol cars following him approached the Wilson Bridge, Fitigu fired shots at
the police, piercing the fiberglass shell above the grill of a patrol car
driven by Fairfax patrol officer Jeffrey K. Rockenbaugh, police said.
Fairfax police said they did not return fire but continued
to chase Fitigu into Maryland, where he apparently lost control and struck a
guardrail. Rockenbaugh and two other officers quickly arrived on the crash
scene and approached Fitigu's car, which was in flames.
What happened next is still unclear. Police sources said
investigators believe Fitigu shot himself once in the head as the officers got
close to his car. But they believe Rockenbaugh thought that Fitigu was aiming
at his pursuers, prompting the officer to fire once at Fitigu, striking him in
the right shoulder.
Sources said this scenario is supported by the account of a
witness--a Prince George's Fire Department battalion chief who came upon
Fitigu's burning car while on the way to another incident--who reported hearing
two shots.
Fitigu was pronounced dead at the scene. Yodit Fitigu said
that she can't accept the idea that her brother may have killed himself.
"Suicide? No. I really bet my life that he wouldn't do
that," she said. "It just doesn't fit him. He's so shy, he's so timid
that he blushes when people ask him a question."
Yodit Fitigu said her brother had been taking computer
programming classes and was working at a convenience store and a computer
retail shop in Northern Virginia.