Last Known Activity:
Police Officer Rodney F. Pocceschi, (September 17, 1969–June 23, 2003) was a 33-year-old Virginia Beach, Virginia police officer killed in the line of duty. Pocceschi was making a routine traffic stop of what turned out to be suspects fleeing a robbery.
The night of the incident
In the evening of June 23, 2003, Christina Marie Tatem, an 18-year-old IHOP employee, let two men into the back door of her place of employment: her boyfriend and convicted felon LeKeith Devon Speller, 21, and his accomplice Shawn Anthony Zhe. The three then donned masks and robbed the restaurant. Although it was open for business at the time, there were no customers present.
The two males fled in an old-model Ford Explorer down Dam Neck Road. At 3:24am, Officer Pocceschi, unaware of the robbery, pulled the car over for speeding.
According to police reports, during the traffic stop Lekeith Devon Speller, 21, exited his vehicle and immediately produced a handgun. Speller and Pocceschi exchanged gunfire. Both were wounded and both collapsed. Apparently, Zhe remained on the scene.
A 16-year-old who was returning from a fishing trip, observed Officer Pocceschi lying down in the roadway and stopped to render assistance. He flagged down a K-9 officer who was responding to the robbery call. This K-9 officer and a second officer rendered CPR and called an ambulance.
Officer Pocceschi was transported to the Trauma Center at Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital where he died of multiple gunshot wounds at 4:05 a.m. It was the first felonious killing of a Virginia Beach police officer in twenty-two years.
Speller was pronounced dead at the scene. It was quickly discovered that he was a six time convicted felon, including violent crimes, and was at that time wanted for assaulting another police officer,burglary, grand larceny, and probation violation. He was also the suspected accomplice in a pair of fast-food robberies and one murder only a month before Pocceschi's killing.
Shawn Anthony Zhe, the 21-year-old passenger in the Explorer with Spelling, eventually pled guilty to robbery, conspiracy and firearms charges. In his defense he claimed he had no idea the driver was going to use the gun and that he tried to stop him.
In 2004, Christina Marie Tatem was convicted of conspiracy, robbery and a weapons violation relating to the robbery, and was sentenced to seven years in prison.
|
