The rookie Cincinnati police officer who caused Sunday's fatal crash while chasing a hit-skip suspect was reprimanded last summer for violating police-pursuit policy.
Officer Gregory Berting, 23, had been on the force for nearly a month on July 2 when he chased a car into Northern Kentucky.
But the driver was wanted only on traffic violations. Policy is to cross the Ohio River on pursuits only in felony cases. No one was injured in that chase and Officer Berting caught the suspect.
He violated the pursuit policy again Sunday, his superiors said, when, in trying to catch up to a pursuit, he failed to stop for a stop sign and ran into a car of young people, killing Michael Tenhundfeld, the 18-year-old driver from Delhi Township. Two passengers were seriously injured.
Sunday's crash was Officer Berting's fourth accident since he joined the force on June 9, 1996. He was found responsible in one of them, where he ran into a parked car but caused minimal damage. Before Sunday, the accidents resulted in $2,273 worth of damage to his car. He also has a 1995 speeding ticket.
The officer's record will be considered in determining what administrative charges he might face, Lt. Col. Theodore Schoch, acting police chief, said Wednesday.
Officer Berting joined Sunday's chase to catch up with the driver of a stolen blue Grand Am who was going through his district.
It was the second time in a month that the driver, Paul Wayne Lovelace, 25, of Springfield Township, led police on a chase in the Grand Am. Mr. Lovelace's first chase didn't last long. It ended in Walnut Hills, the same neighborhood where Sunday's chase began.
A Cincinnati police chief called off the first pursuit about 1 a.m. June 4, saying it was too dangerous. Mr. Lovelace sped away in the rain at more than 90 mph, police said Wednesday.
Capt. Robert Biddle, night chief in the traffic unit, said he broke off the chase because Mr. Lovelace "drove over the sidewalk into eastbound McMillan traffic. He ran several red lights, weaving in and out through traffic."
Two officers identified Mr. Lovelace as the same driver and asked Wednesday that additional felony charges be filed against him. Charges of felony fleeing and receiving stolen property will be added to the list for prosecutors to consider.
Mr. Lovelace, who has racked up 56 criminal and traffic charges in Hamilton County since 1989, already faces charges of fleeing and eluding, receiving stolen property, failure to stop at a red light and no seat belt as a result of Sunday's chase.
He remains jailed in the Hamilton County Justice Center.
The county prosecutor's office expects to know next week how Mr. Lovelace will be charged.
Prosecutors also will determine next week whether Officer Berting will face charges in the death.
Police accident information the city gathered this week indicates that this year, police have reported being in 92 accidents, at a cost of $108,032 to the cars. Police say 60 percent of those accidents were preventable.
Last year, officers reported being involved in 269 accidents, 60 percent of which police ruled as preventable. Those accidents caused $347,627 in damage to cars.
VICTIM'S FAMILY PRAYS FOR OFFICER
Previous stories
OFFICER: CHASE WAS SLOW June 18, 1997
PROSECUTORS CONSIDER CHARGES June 18, 1997
PURSUED MAN RACKED UP OFFENSES June 18, 1997
TENHUNDFELD VISITATION TODAY June 18, 1997
COP IN CRASH RAN STOP SIGN June 17, 1997
COPS' PURSUIT RULES VARY June 17, 1997
DIAGRAM OF THE CHASE June 17, 1997
TYPICAL DAY, TRAGIC NIGHT June 17, 1997
HIGH-SPEED POICE CHASE FATAL June 16, 1997
