YOUNGSTOWN — An internal affairs investigation into the actions of a police officer connected to a fatal car crash found that the officer followed policy.

On Feb. 6, Patrolman Zachary Scott was stopped southbound on Albert Street at a traffic light at the Himrod Avenue Expressway when he observed a vehicle driven by Adrienne D. Washington Jr., 19, traveling the opposite way on Albert Street at high speed and that failed to stop for the red light.

Scott activated his lights and siren and turned around to make a traffic stop on the vehicle, according to a “conclusion letter” Detective Sgt. Sharon Cole of the Youngstown Police Department’s Internal Affairs Division wrote to Scott Feb. 22.

“Upon seeing the police vehicle’s lights activated, the driver of the other vehicle sped up even more to evade you,” she wrote. “The suspect vehicle ultimately ran another red light at the intersection of Albert Street and McGuffey Road and crashed into another vehicle,” Cole wrote.

The 11:54 p.m. crash killed Darius Shackleford, 24, a former Youngstown State University football player from Newark. Shackleford was traveling west on McGuffey Road.

Washington fled on foot from his vehicle, but Scott apprehended him, as well as making a call for medical help for the fatally injured driver, the letter states.

An audio recording of the radio traffic during the incident indicates that Scott reported the crash to a dispatcher about six seconds after reporting that he was engaged in a pursuit. “Send me some cars on Albert at McGuffey,” he told the dispatcher.

The distance from the point where the officer turned around to where Washington’s vehicle crashed at the intersection is about three-tenths of a mile, or about five blocks.

Youngstown Mayor Jamael Tito Brown previously called Shackleford “innocent by all accounts.” Washington was later charged with aggravated vehicular homicide, and the case was bound over to a Mahoning County grand jury for possible indictment.

Cole’s letter quotes from the department’s pursuit policy, which states that the department “realizes the detection and apprehension of criminals is one of the primary responsibilities of any police officer. The department also realizes each officer must conduct himself in a reasonable manner in attempting to fulfill these obligations to enforce the law.”

It states that the following are factors to be considered in such situations:

“1. Pursuits should be initiated when an individual exhibits intent to avoid arrest by using a vehicle to flee.

“2. Pursuits of traffic or misdemeanor violators are permitted if these violations are witnessed by the pursuing officer or there is a warrant on file for the violator.”

It says an officer must consider the following factors before and during a pursuit: the safety of the public and officers or officers, seriousness of the offense, opportunity to arrest the violator at a later time, traffic density and road and weather conditions.

The letter states that when a pursuit is initiated, the audible siren, overhead flashing and rotating lights, high-beam headlights and wig wag lights (if available) “will be immediately activated and continue in operation until the pursuit is terminated.”

The letter concludes: “After a thorough investigation, it was found that you followed the Youngstown Police Department General Orders Manual Pursuit Policy 5.26. The investigation shows that the conclusion of fact to be ‘proper conduct.'”

Police Lt. Brian Butler, head of internal affairs, said in February that an internal affairs investigation is “routine, any time there is a traffic crash involving a pursuit.” In fact, all police pursuits are reviewed through internal affairs, he said.

erunyan@tribtoday.com