Recent Vallejo police chases leave people injured or dead

VALLEJO — Starr Thulander had just said goodbye to her business partner, Hudson Joseph Standley, just after 5:30 p.m. on Aug. 30, when he dropped her off at home in Vallejo and left to work another job. 

At the same time, Vallejo police were involved in a high-speed chase with a robbery suspect. He allegedly had been on a spree of crimes over the last few days and Vallejo police were actively searching for him. 

About five blocks from Thulander’s house, Standley — who went by Joe — was driving on  Springs Road in his white Toyota Tundra when the suspect lost control of a Toyota Avalon and crashed into the back of Standley’s truck. The truck hit a parked car and flipped over, Standley’s work tools flying out of the back. 

Standley died at the scene. He was 59 years old. 

A native of Cottage Grove, Oregon, Standley served in the U.S. Army for 14 years. Thulander lured him to the Bay Area six years ago because of its lucrative housing market, specifically his ability to flip houses all over Northern California, Oregon and Washington. 

“I can't say enough about his quality of work. He was a very, very skilled contractor,” Thulander told the Sun. “He was absolutely skilled at electrical, plumbing, everything. We did everything from foundation to finish. Our business was just really starting to take off, and I just can't believe it's all ended now.”

Vallejo police chase more suspects than most California agencies

Standley’s death raised concerns among Vallejo residents about the safety of police pursuits. Video of the pursuit and aftermath immediately started circulating online showing the fleeing driver weaving onto the wrong side of the road at high speed on busy streets with low speed limits, followed closely by a police cruiser.

Standley was the first bystander killed in a Vallejo police pursuit since at least 2016, according to data collected by the California Highway Patrol.

About six weeks later, a mother was injured when a shoplifting suspect fleeing an officer crashed into a cement truck and an SUV while running a red light. Last week, a reckless driver fled police for about a quarter-mile before crashing into a parked car and pushing it into 76-year-old Russell Hawk, killing him. The suspect ran from the crash and escaped.

Data shows that Vallejo police initiate more pursuits than hundreds of other agencies in California, including much larger departments, and Vallejo police pursuits frequently result in death or injury.

In 2020, Vallejo police initiated 144 pursuits, fewer than only 10 other agencies in California, including the CHP, according to CHP data. In 2021, Vallejo police initiated 123 pursuits, more than only 13 other agencies. Vallejo police initiate more pursuits than other, much larger, nearby agencies, such as Oakland police and San Francisco police.

According to CHP data, three drivers fleeing Vallejo police have been killed in crashes and 47 have been injured since 2016. Six passengers in fleeing cars have been injured as well as five bystanders and 13 police officers.

However, data released by the city indicates that it may not be providing a complete record of pursuits to the CHP. Vallejo police said that they have been involved in 586 pursuits since 2020, which have injured 13 bystanders. Data released by the department this month indicates that Vallejo police have already engaged in 137 pursuits this year.

Differences in policy can lead to different pursuit outcomes

One potential reason for the larger number of pursuits in Vallejo is differences in policies. Some larger cities have set much more restrictive pursuit policies.

San Francisco’s policy only allows officers to initiate a pursuit if they are pursuing a suspect in a violent felony or the officer believes the driver poses a risk to public safety. It forbids officers from starting pursuits solely because of a non-violent crime. But Mayor London Breed is looking to ease those rules to include things like retail theft.

Vallejo’s policy, which is drafted by the police policy provider Lexipol, is much more permissive. It allows officers to initiate a pursuit “when the officer reasonably believes that a suspect, who has been given appropriate signal to stop by a law enforcement officer, is attempting to evade arrest or detention by fleeing in a vehicle” and instructs officers to weigh the severity of the suspected crime against the risks to community safety.

“They're very risk averse, they're very vague. They pretty much allow you to get away with anything,” Geoffrey Alpert, a professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of South Carolina who studies police pursuits, said of the Lexipol policy. “That's why a lot of the medium size and smaller departments love it and they buy it."

Last month, the Police Executive Research Forum and the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services published a report on pursuits that recommended agencies take on more restrictive policies, like in San Francisco. The board that drafted the report included Alpert and former Vallejo police Capt. Jason Potts, who is now the chief of the Las Vegas Department of Public Safety.

According to the report, a study of 56 agencies between 2001 and 2007 found that 23.5% of pursuits had some kind of negative outcome, such as accidents involving an injury or property damage; 9% of pursuits caused an injury to an officer, bystander or suspect.

“These data suggest that engaging in a pursuit may not always be worth the risks, particularly when a pursuit is not necessary to apprehend a suspect,” the report stated. “Rather than assuming the risks of a pursuit, for example, an officer might collect vehicle license plate information to apprehend the suspect later.”

The report also found that research indicates that more restrictive pursuit policies significantly reduce the number of pursuits and that if police don’t chase suspects, there is not a significant increase in suspects who flee.

Vallejo police frequently start pursuits for suspected nonviolent offenses. Last year, most pursuits were started for vehicle theft or reckless driving, according to CHP data. 

Police did not notify Standley's family

The pursuit that led to Standley’s death was over an alleged violent offense. Police said the white Toyota Avalon that crashed into Standley’s truck at Tennessee and Tuolumne streets matched the description of one used in recent armed robberies. When officers tried to stop it, it sped away, ignoring traffic lights and stop signs.

The fleeing driver and pursuing Vallejo police officers reached speeds of 90 mph in 30 mph zones and weaved in and out of oncoming traffic, according to police scanner radio and witness accounts.

Police said they lost track of the Avalon about a mile and a half east on Tennessee Street. But officers located it a short time later on Springs Road near Mosswood Avenue. The officers then turned around to pursue the car, and as they approached, they saw debris and dust in the area of Springs Road and Tregaskis Avenue. The suspect ran from the car, leaving behind an injured passenger.

A different friend witnessed the chase and subsequent crash and called Thulander to tell her Standley was involved. Thulander went to the scene, but police had already put up barriers around the area.

“I asked, basically, what plates the truck had on it. And they told me Oregon, and I knew it was Joe,” Thulander said. “They wouldn't let anybody near the vehicle. It was upside down. Tools were completely everywhere across all four lanes.”

Thulander helped police on the scene identify the person who was killed. 

“When I had asked each of the officers for their business cards, because I wanted to know who I was talking to, nobody seemed to have one,” she said. “Not one of them had a business card to give me and I thought that was really weird. Nobody wanted to give me their name.”

Thulander said she also provided Vallejo police with phone numbers for Standley’s family to notify him of his death, but she said they never reached out to them. “They didn’t bother to call them at all,” she said. 

It took more than 24 hours for Vallejo police to publicly acknowledge that Standley’s death had been during a police pursuit. The statement the department issued said that officers had lost sight of the car about 15 seconds before finding the crash.

Pursuits “injure or kill more innocent bystanders than any other kind of force.”

Vallejo police have received heavy scrutiny for the high rate of shootings and other force used by officers. The department has taken steps to curb such force and has reduced shootings to the point that the department went three years without firing a shot.

But there has been no comparable decline in the number of pursuits and crashes — and the number of resulting injuries and deaths — during those same years. And the police role in deaths from pursuits is not investigated as thoroughly as it does not trigger an investigation by the Solano County Major Crimes Task Force, the multi-agency collaboration headed by the District Attorney’s Office that investigates deaths involving law enforcement officers.

Alpert, the professor who studies pursuits, told Slate in 2021 that pursuits probably “injure or kill more innocent bystanders than any other kind of force.”

But unlike deaths and injuries from shootings, pursuits in California rarely lead to financial compensation from the government in lawsuits. The California Vehicle Code provides immunity for agencies from civil liability for damage caused by suspects during pursuits as long as the agency has a written pursuit policy and provides regular training.

"I don't think any other state has that kind of immunity for civil liability,” Alpert said. “I think it is unique to California.”

Police are holding Standley's possessions

Thulander says Vallejo police are not providing them with any updates, while still charging his family for holding onto the truck he was killed in. She said she can’t even get back the tools that were scattered all over the road the day her best friend died. 

“They're still holding them from me for evidence,” she said. “I'm trying to hold our business together without any tools. I don't understand that.”

Standley’s ashes are going to be laid next to his fathers, who was killed by a drunk driver on an Air Force base when Standley was five. 

“He was always the nicest. Always had a smile. Never argued with anybody. Never got mad at anybody,” Thulander said. “He was exceptional.”

Standley’s loved ones have planned a local memorial for him on Nov. 4 at Gentleman Jim’s in East Vallejo.

Editor's note: This story has been updated to include the latest Vallejo police pursuit data.