Death by Cop 2021-2025
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Marcus "Marc the Barber" Jeffries
Age : 43
Gender : Male
Race : Black
Date : 05/16/2021
Location : Chesapeake Avenue and Seaboard Avenue
City : Chesapeake
County : Chesapeake
State : Virginia
Agency : Chesapeake Police Department
Officer(s) :Not disclosed
Cause of Death : Vehicle
Event : Driver killed by police chase crash
OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :
REASON FOR CHASE: Suspected impaired driving
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NARRATIVE:
On 05/16/2021 at approximately 2:14 a.m., Marcus “Marc the Barber” Jeffries, 43, was driving home after leaving a nightclub in Chesapeake. Jeffries was a well-known barber in the South Norfolk community. His wife, Veneeca Jeffries, said Marcus called her shortly before the crash and told her he was on his way home.
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Chesapeake police officers observed Jeffries driving near Berkley Avenue and Campostella Road and alleged his vehicle was being driven erratically. Police said they believed he might be under the influence of alcohol or drugs and attempted to stop him near Liberty Street and Old Atlantic Avenue. Jeffries continued driving and police initiated a pursuit through surrounding residential streets.
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Police said Jeffries increased his speed as the pursuit continued down Old Atlantic Avenue and onto Ohio Street. Officers later claimed they slowed and began losing sight of his vehicle. In a later account, police said they lost sight of the vehicle because it was smoking. The available reporting does not establish a reliable maximum pursuit speed, total distance or duration.
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Jeffries crossed the railroad tracks on Chesapeake Avenue at high speed, lost control and crashed into a utility pole near Ardmore Circle and Seaboard Avenue. The impact severely crushed the vehicle and Jeffries was killed at the scene.
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Jeffries' widow disputed part of the police account. Veneeca Jeffries acknowledged that Marcus fled from police and said he had alcohol in his system, but questioned whether police had actually fallen far enough behind to characterize the pursuit as effectively over. She provided WTKR with residential doorbell-camera footage that showed police vehicles still trailing Jeffries during the pursuit. She said her concern was not denying Marcus' decision to flee but determining whether Chesapeake police followed appropriate pursuit policies and whether another family could be spared a similar death.
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The family retained consultant Earl Lewis, who said the family still did not know what happened that night despite receiving a Chesapeake Police Department report approximately six months after Jeffries' death. Veneeca Jeffries requested police body-camera footage through the Virginia Freedom of Information Act. Chesapeake police told WTKR they had body-camera footage but no dash-camera video and said the case remained open as of November 2021.
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WTKR reported that Chesapeake police policy left pursuit decisions largely to officer discretion with supervisory oversight and required the need to apprehend a driver to outweigh the danger created by the pursuit. The station identified six Chesapeake police pursuits between May and July 2021, three of which resulted in deaths, placing Jeffries' death within a cluster of fatal pursuits in the city during that period.
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No publicly searchable court record or later reliable reporting located documents a wrongful-death lawsuit or settlement arising from Jeffries' death.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND:
The Chesapeake Police Department did not publicly identify the officers who attempted to stop Jeffries or participated in the pursuit.
