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Steven Pearson

Age : 47

Gender : Male

Race : White

Date : 08/14/2022

Location : Intersection of Flowood Drive and Old Fannin Road

City : Flowood

County : Rankin

State : Mississippi

Agency : Pearl Police Department; Flowood Police Department

Officer(s) :Not disclosed

Cause of Death : Vehicle

Event : Bystander killed by police chase crash

OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :

On 08/14/2022, at approximately 6:30 p.m., a Pearl Police Department officer attempted to stop a 2009 silver Infiniti driven by Ryan Irwin, 29, near Bierdeman Road and U.S. Highway 80 in Pearl. Later reporting and civil litigation established the specific reason for the attempted stop was a window-tint violation. Irwin continued driving away at high speed westbound on Highway 80 while the Pearl officer pursued.
The pursuit continued from Pearl into Flowood. Irwin traveled north on Highway 468/Flowood Drive and then east on Flowood Drive across Airport Road. Flowood Police Department was notified after the pursuit entered its jurisdiction.
Irwin eventually drove into the parking lot behind Academy Sports on Flowood Drive and stopped. A Pearl officer pulled in behind him, got out of the police vehicle, drew a gun and ordered Irwin to exit the Infiniti. According to police, Irwin instead backed the Infiniti away from the officer and returned to Flowood Drive. Flowood police then continued pursuing him.
There was later a significant dispute over which agency was pursuing Irwin during the final portion of the incident. Pearl Public Information Director Greg Flynn subsequently said Pearl's pursuit had ended and Flowood police pursued Irwin after he drove away from the Academy Sports parking lot. WLBT reported that Flowood's account contradicted Pearl's description of the pursuit.
At the intersection of Old Fannin Road and Flowood Drive, Irwin's Infiniti struck a motorcycle being ridden by Steven Pearson, 47, of Vicksburg. Pearson was an uninvolved bystander and was not connected to the attempted traffic stop or police pursuit. The collision ejected Pearson from his motorcycle. His family's subsequent lawsuit alleged that he was thrown approximately 20 feet. Pearson was transported to Merit Health Hospital, where he died.
Police arrested Irwin following the crash. Authorities subsequently reported that he had been driving with a suspended license and without insurance. He was charged with felony fleeing resulting in death. Those circumstances were discovered after the pursuit began; the documented reason for the original attempted traffic stop was the window-tint violation.
The Mississippi Highway Patrol investigated the fatal collision. Pearson's daughter, Trista Pearson, publicly questioned why police continued a pursuit that began over a traffic violation and called for changes to police pursuit policy. Pearl officials said after Pearson's death that they had no plans to reconsider their pursuit policy. Pearl spokesperson Greg Flynn said officers had discretion to terminate a pursuit if it became dangerous but maintained that this pursuit had not reached that threshold.
Pearson's death was the second uninvolved person's death in less than four weeks resulting from a Pearl police pursuit. On 07/21/2022, Pearl police attempted to stop Brandon Andrews for speeding and pursued him into Jackson, where Andrews crashed into a U.S. Postal Service vehicle, killing postal worker Brad Pennington, 32.
A January 2023 WLBT investigation found that Pearl police had initiated 16 of the 90 police pursuits the station identified in the Jackson metropolitan area during the preceding five years, more than any other agency in its analysis. Traffic violations were the most common initiating reason. WLBT also reported that Pearl and Flowood declined to provide their pursuit policies despite public-records requests. Comparison with a countywide pursuit policy used by other Rankin County agencies raised questions about whether a pursuit over a misdemeanor window-tint violation would satisfy the standards used elsewhere in the county.
On 03/14/2023, Pearson's family filed a wrongful-death lawsuit. An amended complaint filed in June 2023 named the cities of Pearl and Flowood and Irwin as defendants and sought $10 million in punitive damages. The family alleged that the pursuit lasted approximately 26 minutes, that officers could have terminated it before Pearson was killed, and that officers from Pearl and Flowood violated state law and their departments' pursuit policies by continuing the chase. The lawsuit further alleged that officers lacked information establishing that Irwin had committed a felony when they pursued him.
The lawsuit also accused Pearl and Flowood of failing to adequately monitor, investigate and discipline officers involved in dangerous pursuits. The family's attorney, Ray Gustavis, argued that the pursuit over a window-tint violation unnecessarily endangered the public and that officers had opportunities to discontinue it before Pearson was struck.
Ryan Irwin subsequently pleaded guilty to fleeing a law-enforcement officer resulting in death. Because he was sentenced as a habitual offender, the court imposed a 40-year sentence, with 15 years to serve in prison. The sentence was publicly reported in May 2024.

SOURCE LINKS :

https://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/2022/08/15/police-chase-started-pearl-leaves-47-year-old-lifeless/10330605002/e-4-weeks/
https://www.wlbt.com/2022/08/15/victim-identified-arrest-made-deadly-pearl-police-chase-that-ended-flowood/
https://www.wapt.com/article/several-agencies-join-police-chase-into-flowood/40891843
https://www.wapt.com/article/daughter-of-motorcyclist-killed-as-a-result-of-police-chase-seeks-answers/41176217
https://www.wlbt.com/2023/01/20/3-your-side-investigates-collateral-damage-police-pursuits/
https://www.wlbt.com/2023/07/07/family-wants-10-million-damages-pearl-flowood-after-police-chase-that-killed-innocent-man/
https://www.wlbt.com/2024/05/16/two-men-who-led-pearl-police-deadly-high-speed-chases-receive-decades-long-sentences/