Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, November 28, 1993 TAG: 9311280071
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: D-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium
Wally Haigh said Friday that he called Virginia Beach police the night before and the morning before the Nov. 20 fatal wreck to tell them where John B. Haigh, 31, was living.
"I just can't believe this happened," Wally Haigh said. "The whole thing could have been prevented if everyone had done what they should have."
Police department spokesman Lou Thurston said if there was a breakdown in communication, "I don't know where it occurred."
John Haigh was charged with leaving the scene of an Oct. 30 accident and driving without insurance. Thurston said the serving of warrants for traffic violations does not carry the same urgency "as major felonies like murder and rape."
"Besides," Thurston said, John Haigh "could've been arrested Friday night, bonded out Friday night and back on the road Saturday morning."
Police arrested John Haigh on Nov. 20 after his pickup collided with a car carrying four West Virginia University students visiting Virginia Beach for Thanksgiving.
Killed were Brian Raney, 23, of Virginia Beach and Jason Partilla, 20, of Irwin, Pa. Injured were Joseph Allen, 21, of Union, W.Va., and Corrie Jaynes, 20, of Rockville, Md. They were in serious condition Saturday, said Ginny Scharfe, a nursing supervisor at Virginia Beach General Hospital.
John Haigh suffered minor injuries. He was charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter and driving under the influence, and was being held without bond.
Wally Haigh said officer N.D. Ferguson came to his house Nov. 19 to serve warrants on his son in connection with the Oct. 30 wreck.
Haigh told Ferguson he did not know where his son was or where he was living at the time. But his son showed up at Wally Haigh's house two or three hours later.
"I advised John he should turn himself in, because there were warrants out for his arrest," Wally Haigh said. "He said he was afraid he would go to jail if he did, because there were other charges against him."
Wally Haigh said his son asked him to drive him home, and he did. He noted the address and called the police department to report the information.
"I talked to a woman and told her the situation, that officer Ferguson had warrants for his arrest," Haigh said. "She couldn't find the warrants. I said for her to call Ferguson, that I knew where [John] was.
"I told her to get Ferguson to call me at home. I got no call back from the police."
The next morning, Haigh called police again. He said he spoke with another woman on duty.
"I told her there was a warrant for his arrest, and that he has a history of substance abuse," he said. "She told me officer Ferguson would be in Monday morning."
That call took place between 10 and 10:30 a.m., Haigh said. Less than five hours later, John Haigh's truck crashed with the college students' car.
Keywords:
FATALITY
by CNB