Local Man Shot, Killed in NN Traffic Stop

By WYDaily Staff Friday, January 14, 2011

Dave Henry Bailey

A Newport News police spokeswoman said Dave Henry Bailey was shot by two officers after he raised a handgun at them during the traffic stop and – after multiple commands to drop the weapon – he pointed the gun at the officers. A gun was recovered, and the passenger in Bailey’s car confirmed officers’ reports, police said.

Police spokeswoman Holly McPherson said the incident began just before 9 p.m. when two members of department's High Impact Patrol Unit were riding double in a marked police unit. They witnessed a maroon Ford Taurus, reportedly driven by Bailey and with an adult male as his passenger, make two undisclosed traffic infractions and pulled over the car around 8:56 p.m. in the 2300 block of Roanoke Avenue. Two other officers from the specialized unit also stopped to back up the officers who initiated the traffic stop.

McPherson said that Bailey raised a handgun during the vehicle stop. "After multiple commands to drop the gun were given by the officers, the driver pointed the gun toward the officers. The two officers who initially stopped the vehicle fired their service weapons, striking the male driver," she said in a statement about the fatal shooting, the city's first in 2011.

The passenger and officers were not injured.

Bailey was taken to an area hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 10:44 p.m.

Bailey's passenger, according to the police statement, confirmed that Bailey had a weapon, refused to put it down and pointed it at officers during the tstop. A handgun was recovered from the vehicle.

McPherson said the four officers involved in the incident have been placed on administrative leave. Following the city police department's policy, separate investigations are being conducted by the Department’s Homicide Squad and Professional Standards Division. Once sufficient information from these investigations is available, a full statement of the facts will be released, she said.

According to online court records, Bailey had pleaded guilty in York-Poquoson Circuit Court to possession of marijuana with intent to deliver charges in 2004 and 2005. The 2005 case triggered a violation of probation charge, of which he was convicted. Total jail time for all cases was less than two years.