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Suit threatened over pursuit death Drunk driver died during chase; Shady Cove police call complaint is frivolous By CHRIS BRISTOL SHADY COVE -- An attorney has threatened to sue the city on behalf of the family of a drunken driver who was killed in a crash while fleeing the police last summer. Deborah Edmondson-Hibbard died instantly July 3 when her speeding Ford pickup smashed into a guardrail on Highway 62 near Eagle Point and then struck a tree. The divorced 34-year-old mother of three was fleeing a rookie Shady Cove officer who had pulled her over at 3 a.m. for erratic driving. An autopsy determined she was drunk. In a letter to the city, Portland attorney Charles Robinowitz accused Officer Ben Fazio of reckless negligence for chasing Edmondson-Hibbard. He demanded $500,000 from the city to compensate Edmondson-Hibbard's ex-husband and the couple's three children, and another $10,000 for funeral expenses. Robinowitz did not return a phone call Monday seeking comment. In his letter, he said a witness saw Fazio tailgating Edmondson-Hibbard's pickup at close to 100 mph, and he claimed that Eagle Point police were waiting ahead with a tire-popping device called a spike strip. At that point, Robinowitz said, Fazio "knew or should have known ... that his chase at a high speed was unnecessary." The letter -- known as a tort claim, which is required under Oregon law before a municipality can be sued -- made no mention of Edmondson-Hibbard's intoxication. Shady Cove police Chief James Johnson defended Fazio's actions, and he accused Robinowitz of suing just to force a settlement from the city's insurance carrier. An Oregon State Police investigation found no wrongdoing, he said. "The officer acted appropriately all the way through," Johnson said. "To me, it's another one of these frivolous lawsuits that I've seen over the years." Johnson denied Fazio was following the pickup too closely, and he pointed out that Eagle Point police don't have spike strips. A spokesman for the department confirmed Johnson's account. Jackson County District Attorney Mark Huddleston said he reviewed the OSP investigation and decided to take no action. "Basically he (Fazio) was in pursuit of a vehicle," Huddleston said of the chase. "My review of those reports led me to the conclusion that no criminal charges were appropriate against the officer." Johnson said Fazio did not know who was behind the wheel when he spotted Edmondson-Hibbard's 1990 Ford F-250 weaving down Highway 62 inside the city limits and pulled her over. It appeared she had been crying, said Johnson, who added that investigators believe Edmondson-Hibbard had been camping in the woods near Shady Cove and had just been involved in a domestic dispute with a boyfriend. Fazio could smell alcohol, and Edmondson-Hibbard admitted she had been drinking, Johnson said. "He had enough contact with her to formulate in his own mind that she was definitely intoxicated," Johnson said. "It was her choice to put the key in, start up and take off." When the crash occurred, Fazio was four-tenths of a mile behind Edmondson-Hibbard's pickup, Johnson said. The officer had decided to hang back because he knew Eagle Point police were coming for backup and he feared the truck might crash head-on into a patrol car. Even so, he insisted Fazio was right to pursue the truck. "If you didn't pursue and she got into an accident (with another motorist), well, his head would have rolled on that one," Johnson said. "You're damned if you do, damned if you don't." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA