HOPEWELL, Va. -- Friends, family and members of the community gathered to remember a father killed in a crash during a Prince George police pursuit over the summer.
Andre Bassette Jr. was killed in July after his car was struck by a driver involved in a police pursuit. A Prince George County Police officer tried pulling over that driver for speeding, which is considered reckless driving, near Fort Gregg-Adams.
Investigation records from Hopewell Police, the agency that responded to the crash, showed that after the pursuit ensued, speeds reached up to 100 miles per hour. The pursuit crossed from Prince George into Hopewell on Oaklawn Boulevard and came to a fatal end at the intersection at Ashland Street, about 2.5 miles from where the initial traffic stop occurred.
Those who knew and loved the 45-year-old gathered at the site of the crash Saturday night for a prayer vigil.
Along with honoring Bassette, community members brought attention to other deadly police pursuits and called for change.
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"I am trying to fix it where we all can get some justice. You have people out here that have lost loved ones in accidents, high-speed chases," Rosa Bassette, Andre 's mother, previously said. "This is bigger. I need closure, and I need justice."
Virginia Tehrani, a lawyer representing the Bassette family, previously said the family intends to pursue a wrongful death lawsuit against Prince George County.
“We can't get Andre back, but what we can do is hold them accountable," Tehrani said. “I want body cam. I want dash cam. I want videos of what happened with this crash. I want the patrol records, the dispatch records. If you want to be transparent, give us those. Release them. Show the public what happened. Is there a justifiable excuse? I don't think so.”
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