A Baltimore City police officer who pursued a motorcycle into Baltimore County early Sunday — despite repeated orders from supervisors to end the high-speed chase — was suspended after his cruiser collided with the motorcycle, killing the rider.
Officer Timothy E. Beall, 31, a nine-year veteran of the police force, has been suspended pending an investigation by the department's internal affairs division, police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said.
The motorcycle rider, Haines E. Holloway-Lilliston, 27, of the 200 block of Lord Byron Lane in Cockeysville, was pronounced dead at the crash site on Interstate 695 near the Dulaney Valley Road exit.
In an unrelated incident, a 25-year-old Virginia woman was killed Sunday afternoon after a man being chased by city police crashed into the car she was driving in South Baltimore. Guglielmi said police were following protocol in that chase because the driver was believed to be armed and had injured police officers by ramming his vehicle into three cruisers.
According to Maryland State Police, the motorcycle chase began about 3 a.m. when Beall tried to pull over Holloway-Lilliston after he had apparently been racing with another vehicle on Northern Parkway. The motorcycle sped away, heading north on I-83.
Beall took off after the motorcycle and called state police to say he believed it had been stolen.
Although police supervisors repeatedly told Beall to stop the pursuit, he followed the motorcycle onto eastbound I-695, according to city and state police. The cruiser and the motorcycle crashed on the ramp to southbound Dulaney Valley Road.
The motorcycle, a 2002 Suzuki GSX 600, was displaying tags assigned to another motorcycle, but had not been reported stolen, state police said. Holloway-Lilliston did not have a motorcycle license, but did have a valid Maryland driver's license.
Holloway-Lilliston, a former Towson University football player, grew up in Camden, N.J., said former Towson football coach Gordy Combs.
"He was very outgoing, very talkative, very mature," Combs said. "I remember his mother was very happy when he graduated."
Holloway-Lilliston graduated from Towson with a degree in sports studies in January 2009, according to the university's website.
Holloway-Lilliston's relatives did not return several calls Sunday evening.
In April, Holloway-Lilliston was charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest after a run-in with Towson University police, according to court records.
He was also charged in April with driving a vehicle with a suspended, out-of-state license, but those charges were marked "nolle prosequi," meaning prosecutors did not pursue a conviction, at a trial earlier this month.
Beall, who had been involved in a fatal shooting last year, was ordered suspended with pay, Guglielmi said. He has been temporarily stripped of police powers and put on desk duty.
Baltimore police are instructed to chase a vehicle only if the driver or passengers are believed to have committed a violent crime or pose a risk to public safety, Guglielmi said.
The chase proceeded far outside city police jurisdiction, and commanders radioed instructions to end the pursuit, he said.
State police are supervising the investigation and will submit their finding to the Baltimore County State's Attorney's Office. No charges had been filed as of Sunday evening.
Robert F. Cherry, police union president, said that Beall might not have heard the commands to stop because of the siren and street noise.
He also noted that I-83 and Northern Parkway are regular strips used for racing by dirt bike and motorcycle riders as well as cars, to the frustration of police officers. Such high-speed driving is dangerous for the drivers, responding officers and the public, and is not a routine traffic violation, he said.
"There's no such thing as a routine traffic violation anyway," Cherry said. "How many officers have been killed during what was labeled a routine traffic violation? The investigation is continuing. Let's not judge the officer until all the facts are in, because we don't know why this man was fleeing."
Beall was also involved in a fatal shooting in January 2009. In that case, Beall fatally shot Larry Reed, 22, after Reed brandished an SKS assault rifle. A state attorney's office investigation found that the shooting was justified.
In the second incident, the Sunday afternoon chase appeared to be justified because the driver had injured officers and was considered a threat to public safety, Guglielmi said.
Around 3 p.m., a caller told police that an armed man was dealing drugs from a pickup truck at Monroe Street and Penrose Street, Guglielmi said.
When officers arrived, they spotted a blue Ford F-150 pickup, which rammed into three cruisers before peeling away, police said. The driver threw a box containing suspected marijuana from a window, police said.
