April 13-- CLAYTON, MO -- A man who police now say had fled a traffic stop in St. Louis County just before a crash that killed an off-duty firefighter last week has been charged with second-degree murder.
Nicholas Washington, 21, of St. Louis County, was charged Friday with second-degree murder. He was jailed with bail set at $500,000.
Killed in the April 4 crash was Brett Korves, 30, of St. Jacob. He had worked as an on-call firefighter for the Swansea Fire Department, where he was a 10-year veteran.
The charge against Washington came hours after police for the first time said that a St. Louis County officer had tried to stop the Chevrolet Camaro he was driving. They provided information on the crash last week, but gave no indication of police involvement until Friday, after the Post-Dispatch began asking about a tip that an officer had tried to stop the car.
St. Louis County Police Sgt. Benjamin Granda said he did not know where the officer tried to stop the Camaro or whether the officer reported the attempted stop to supervisors, citing the ongoing investigation into what happened.
The department said Korves was trying to make a left turn in his Chevrolet Cruze about 5:50 a.m. April 4 at Page Avenue and North Warson Road when it was struck by the Camaro, which was heading east on Page at more than 100 mph.
An officer had earlier tried to conduct a "lawful stop" after seeing Washington commit a "series of moving violations," Detective Joseph Percich wrote in court documents. After Washington increased his speed to more than 90 mph, police ended the attempt to stop him due to safety concerns, according to the documents.
After police "disengaged the attempt to stop," Washington continued to drive at excessive rates of speed, drove erratically, and created a substantial risk of serious injury or death, the documents say.
Multiple witnesses, supported by surveillance footage, said that the officer turned off his lights after the Camaro sped away from him, said Tim Swope, director of operations for St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell.
Washington lives in the 10400 block of Forest Brook Lane, off North Lindbergh Boulevard, less than a mile from the crash scene.
His funeral was Wednesday. A GoFundMe page was set up to help his family and provide for his son's care and education.
Granda would not say when the department learned that one of its officers had tried to stop the car.
"In any death investigation, all the facts and circumstances are not divulged," Granda said. "These things take time. I understand everyone wants all of the answers right off the bat; that's fair, but there are things we have to investigate and scrutinize so we have fair and impartial knowledge of what occurred."
Last year, two men died in a crash while fleeing St. Louis County police. In that case, the department also initially did not say their officers were involved. Granda said the two crashes are not comparable.
A few days after the Aug. 10 crash, St. Louis County police said the men had fled from officers who turned their lights on to stop the vehicle. But police denied that there had been a pursuit.
About a week later, the department launched an internal investigation after activists located surveillance footage that showed the officers chasing the car shortly before it crashed. The two St. Louis County police officers involved were fired in November for misleading investigators about the crash.
___ (c)2019 the St. Louis Post-Dispatch Visit the St. Louis Post-Dispatch at www.stltoday.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
