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Stacey Lynn Watts

Age : 35

Gender : Female

Race : White

Date : 09/08/2021

Location : Highway 151

City : Walford

County : Linn

State : Iowa

Agency : Linn County Sheriff’s Office

Officer(s) :Not Disclosed

Cause of Death : Vehicle

Event : Passenger killed by police chase crash

OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :

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REASON FOR POLICE CHASE:
Domestic disturbance involving Stacey Lynn Watts reportedly attempting to jump from a moving vehicle. Shortly after noon, the Linn County Sheriff’s Office received a report of a blue Nissan Altima with a male driver and a female passenger who was reportedly trying to jump from the vehicle. A deputy later located the Altima traveling at excessive speed with Watts still inside and attempted to stop it.
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EVENT NARRATIVE:
On 09/08/2021, 35-year-old Stacey Lynn Watts of Cedar Rapids was killed while riding as a passenger in a Nissan Altima pursued by a Linn County sheriff’s deputy north of Walford. Watts was the woman at the center of the original call for police assistance: authorities said she was reportedly attempting to jump from the moving car during a domestic disturbance.
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Shortly after noon, the Linn County Sheriff’s Office received the domestic-disturbance report near 80th Street and Iowa Highway 100. The caller reported a man driving a blue Nissan Altima with a female passenger reportedly trying to jump from the vehicle.
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A deputy located the Altima traveling south on 80th Street and observed that Watts remained inside. The deputy activated the squad car’s emergency lights and attempted to stop the vehicle. The driver continued driving away while the deputy pursued south on 80th Street, onto East Cemetery Road in Fairfax and then toward southbound U.S. Highway 151.
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The deputy determined that the Altima was being driven too recklessly to safely continue the pursuit and terminated the chase near U.S. Highway 151 and Wright Brothers Boulevard. No PIT/TVI maneuver, stop sticks, roadblock or intentional police-vehicle contact was reported. Available reporting does not provide the Altima’s measured maximum speed.
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Approximately one minute after terminating the pursuit, the deputy saw debris flying into the air farther south. The deputy proceeded toward the debris and discovered that the Altima had gone out of control near the 300 block of U.S. Highway 151, crossed into the opposing lane and collided nearly head-on with a northbound Kenworth dump truck.
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Watts and the driver were ejected from the Altima and pronounced dead at the scene. The dump-truck driver was not injured. The Iowa State Patrol investigated the fatal collision.
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Watts had turned 35 only three days before her death. She was born on 09/05/1986 in Le Mars, Iowa, and lived in Cedar Rapids. Her family included her parents, birth mother, seven siblings and numerous nieces, nephews and extended relatives. She had previously endured the deaths of two infant children, Haley Stevens and Alex Stevens. Her family held a memorial service and Celebration of Life at St. Mark’s United Methodist Church in Cedar Rapids on 09/24/2021.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND:
The Linn County sheriff’s deputy who initiated and subsequently terminated the pursuit has not been publicly identified.

SOURCE LINKS :

https://www.thegazette.com/crashes/2-cedar-rapids-residents-killed-in-walford-accident-following-police-chase/
https://www.kcrg.com/2021/09/08/two-killed-walford-crash-collision-happened-shortly-after-deputy-quit-chase-vehicle/
https://apnews.com/article/police-iowa-e4dee22543693c596c1bdb8b0c46d44b
https://www.kimt.com/news/iowa/sheriffs-office-says-two-people-killed-after-police-pursuit/article_03e37ebc-48c3-11ec-b1bb-2f3a1fc68d19.html
https://www.thegazette.com/crashes/2-killed-in-collision-with-dump-truck-near-walford/
https://www.thegazette.com/crime-courts/two-cedar-rapids-people-identified-in-walford-double-fatality/
https://www.kcrg.com/2021/09/08/fatal-crash-closes-hwy-151-north-walford/
https://www.wowt.com/2021/09/11/iowa-police-chase-ends-with-two-dead/
https://www.kcci.com/article/iowa-sheriff-two-killed-in-crash-after-police-pursuit/37526954
https://www.thegazette.com/obituaries/stacey-lynn-watts/