Yesterday's police pursuit that ended in a double fatality was the first time in two years that someone died during a high-speed chase by law enforcement officers in Toledo.

Controversy surrounded two pursuits in 1999 that resulted in fatalities, and Chief Mike Navarre said he expects the latest chase, in which Ricardo and Darlene Barney of North Toledo were killed, will raise the issue again.

“The department averages about 175 pursuits a year and most are high-speed. Generally, 1 percent of all pursuits end in a fatality,” Chief Navarre said.

He said the pursuit in the Old West End lasted about 35 seconds.

The officers followed a car, occupied by Jacob Sisson and a teenage boy, for about 30 seconds before initiating the chase, which the chief called “unusual” because of its brevity.

The chief said a new police helicopter ordered for the department to be used in pursuits probably would not have helped this time because it happened so fast. He said the chopper would have had to be in the air and in the area when the pursuit occurred.

“This was a very, very quick incident,” Capt. Mike Murphy said.

The department revamped its pursuit policy in 1998 and it came under question a year later after several people died during chases in which police were trying to catch suspected felons.

Joe Weppler's family called for an end to high-speed chases by law enforcement authorities when the 14-year-old boy died after he crashed into another vehicle while being chased by Toledo police Oct. 13, 1999, in a car that he allegedly stole from the east side.

Two weeks earlier, Dorothy Hendricks, 42, was killed when the car she was in was hit in the rear by a Ford Bronco that was being chased by a Toledo police lieutenant who was pursuing a suspected drug dealer.

The pursuit policy was under review for years before these deaths, but its reshaping became important in 1995 after a Toledo police officer chasing a stolen car hit a car at Douglas Road and Berdan Avenue, killing 9-year-old Shannon Incorvaia.

Chief Navarre said the revised policy places a heavy emphasis on supervisory control from the beginning to the end of a pursuit. Officers are required to take into account traffic and weather conditions, time of day, and geographic location.

“A pursuit in downtown Toledo at noontime, the cars doing the speed limit, may not be safe. Whereas, a pursuit on the expressway, officers can safely drive more than 20 mph [over the posted speed limit] on a pursuit,” he said.

First Published July 23, 2001, 4:00 a.m.