ACCOMACK COUNTY
An hourlong hearing took on elements of a trial Friday as attorneys questioned the circumstances surrounding a Virginia Beach police officer accused of attacking two Eastern Shore firefighters.
Bradley Colas, 23, told a judge that, yes, he was trying to kill at least one of the rescue workers, but he did so because a prescription medication made him believe they would hurt him. Charged with two counts of malicious bodily injury to law enforcement officers, he was denied bail.
Colas had been taking Biaxin, an antibiotic his doctor prescribed to treat a respiratory infection, when he crashed his car on Lankford Highway in Hallwood early Sunday and stabbed and shot at firefighters attempting to help him.
Colas' attorney, Moody E. "Sonny" Stallings Jr., said the medication caused Colas to hallucinate, see demons and think the emergency responders were evil.
Stallings asked a General District Court judge to grant a conditional bond that would send Colas to the Virginia Beach Psychiatric Center, an unsecured facility, for more evaluation.
Commonwealth's Attorney Gary Agar argued against Colas' release, especially to an unsecured facility. Judge Gordon S. Vincent ultimately agreed.
Stallings and Agar questioned Colas, his father and a psychiatrist about the officer's bizarre behavior, medical and family history, and details of the incident.
Colas told the judge he began feeling strange soon after he began taking the antibiotic. He couldn't sleep for three days, he said, and in conversations with his father he talked about a growing fear of demons. He refused to turn out his lights.
"I feel like I'm high or having some kind of manic episode," he said he told a pharmacist.
Colas said he stopped taking the medication on Saturday, but the next morning he was in his car driving more than 100 mph toward Philadelphia.
Colas told Vincent he believed his ex-girlfriend was in trouble and that he had to get to Philadelphia to protect her. Stallings said Colas also told people he was going north to find Jesus.
Colas remembered crashing his car and seeing firefighters arrive, he told the judge.
At the time, Colas thought the firefighters were evil and were trying to manipulate him. When firefighters spotted a gun he carried, Colas said he thought they would try to take it and use it against him.
Colas grabbed a knife he had in his left pocket and stabbed the firefighter trying to take his weapon.
Agar asked Colas whether he wanted to shoot the man. Yes, Colas answered.
"Did you want to kill him?" Agar asked.
There was a moment of silence.
"Yes," Colas said, "I did."
Dr. Thomas Tsao, a psychiatrist and expert witness hired by Stallings, said it is likely that the antibiotic caused the officer's behavior.
After talking to Colas, family members and the doctors who treated him at Riverside Shore Memorial Hospital in Nassawadox, Tsao learned Colas did not have drugs, alcohol or any other hallucinogenic in his system at the time of the incident.
Colas had no family history of drug or alcohol abuse or psychiatric disorders, Tsao said.
Colas exhibited some of the more unusual side effects of the Biaxin, Tsao said, listing several for the judge.
"Anxiety - clearly he was worried," Tsao said. "Psychosis, which he clearly demonstrated."
Psychotic behavior after taking Biaxin is rare, but there are documented cases, Tsao said.
"One in 100,000 cases could expect a reaction like this," he said.
"The point is that it is a rare occurrence, and it's documented many times, and, unfortunately, I think it happened to Bradley Colas," Tsao said.
Vincent denied Colas' bail request but left open the possibility of more psychiatric evaluation under different conditions.
"I think he should have every opportunity for examination," Vincent said.
Colas is being held in the Accomack County Jail. Stallings said he hopes to schedule another bail hearing next week.
Sarah Hutchins, 757-222-5131, [email protected]
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