CHESAPEAKE, Va. (WAVY) — A traffic stop turned deadly for two people over the weekend.
Virginia State Police are still putting together what happened. A woman died in the crash at the end of the incident and a man was then shot and killed by a Virginia State Police trooper.
New information on Monday from Newport News police revealed officers originally started following the suspect’s car due to a possible aggravated assault, suspected abduction, and suspected DUI. The incident started in Newport News and ended in Chesapeake.
State police say the driver, 45-year-old Brian Price, never exceeded the posted speeds as he drove from Newport News to Chesapeake. He was shot and killed after fleeing the scene of the crash in Chesapeake and then allegedly assaulting a trooper. 47-year-old Amity Jo Grey was the passenger who died in the crash.
Grey was known to family and friends as Ami.
“She was sweet and nice and smart,” her former stepmother Lynn Teravainen said on Monday, speaking outside the family home in Newport News. “Ami loved Brian and Brian loved Ami very much. They were very much in love.”
The video of the massive scene was unmistakable. Traffic was snarled for hours around Route 58 due to this scene and another one not too far away when a person died in a truck that hit an 18-wheel tractor trailer.
As Price’s vehicle approached the exit ramp from Interstate 664 to Route 58 in Suffolk, Price’s and the trooper’s car made contact, causing both vehicles to run off the roadway.
Price’s car went into an embankment and overturned. Price fled on foot, and Grey was located at the crash scene. She died on impact.
“Well, with no excessive speed, I don’t know why they were being chased, and why the cars collided at least with a state trooper. We know that is what is going to happen, but in an accident, no one knows what the other car is going to do,“ Teravainen said.
Within minutes, Price is located walking along Route 58. As the trooper verbally engaged Price, an altercation ensued. The officer was assaulted, then fatally shot Price.
“I understand there was a little erratic behavior,” said Teravainen, trying to shed light on what may have caused the erratic behavior.
“I think there was a mix up in medication or something like that. He had been on some medication, but that’s only secondhand information,” Teravainen speculated.
She continued: “But both also loved each other and at some point, Price may have known Ami was dead … This is probably the most traumatic thing in his life, and if this is the person you finally found that you love more than anyone else, and you have just seen them deceased, how would anyone act?”
Police are still investigating the incident and the trooper that fatally shot Price has been suspended with pay pending the outcome of the investigation.
