Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Police release few details about crash
Roanoke police said more details will be released when they finish the investigation.
Three days after a wreck killed a Rocky Mount police officer and injured another man, there were still more questions about the wreck's circumstances and what could have caused it than there were answers from the Roanoke Police Department.
The two-vehicle wreck, which closed all three lanes of southbound U.S. 220 between Elm Avenue and Franklin Road for eight hours Saturday morning, left 34-year-old Jason Maxey dead. He was not on duty and was not driving a police car, Rocky Mount police said.
Brooks Ryan Leisure, 25, of Logan, Ohio, was in fair condition Monday at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital, said hospital spokesman Eric Earnhart.
Police spokeswoman Aisha Johnson said Monday that the wreck is being investigated and declined to answer additional questions, including what caused the accident, which direction the cars were traveling and whether anyone was at fault. No one has been charged in the wreck.
Additionally, police said Leisure was the driver of one of the two vehicles, but his father said Monday that he was a passenger and that the driver fled after the wreck.
Johnson would not say if police are looking for another person who may have been involved in the wreck.
"At this point we can't comment as to any specifics of the investigation," Johnson said. "Once that investigation has concluded we'd likely to get into more specifics."
David Leisure, Brooks Leisure's father, lives in Ohio and said he has not talked with police about the wreck.
His son suffered a broken heel and broken arm and has cuts to his liver and spleen, he said.
Brooks Leisure has no connection to the area, but his father said he believes he was in Roanoke selling magazines.
Maxey's family could not be reached Monday. His funeral is scheduled for Sunday.





