CHARLESTON – A Raleigh County mother blames more than a dozen law enforcement officers and six local governments of turning a minor traffic stop into a multi‑county, high‑speed chase that ended with her 32‑year‑old son dead in a Nicholas County ditch.
Annice Jean Keaton, mother of Adam Matthew Frazier, filed her complaint May 5 in federal court against the Beckley Police Department, Raleigh County Sheriff’s Office, Fayetteville Police Department, Fayette County Sheriff’s Office, Nicholas County Sheriff’s Office and Summersville Police Department as well as the City of Beckley, Raleigh County Commission, City of Fayetteville, Fayette County Commission, Nicholas County Commission and City of Summersville. A host of individual law enforcement officials also are named as defendants.
diTrapano
“Sadly, this is another tragic case involving what is alleged to be a dangerous and unnecessary police pursuit,” attorney L. Dante diTrapano told The West Virginia Record. “This chase spanned multiple counties despite officers knowing the identity of the driver and knowing that a helpless passenger was inside the vehicle.
“There are established protocols designed to prevent exactly this type of outcome – particularly where officers know an innocent person is at risk. As alleged, those safeguards were not followed, and this pursuit ended in a death that could have been avoided.”
In the 99-page complaint, Keaton says the agencies and officers violated her son’s Fourteenth Amendment due process rights, acted negligently and failed to properly train and supervise their officers in pursuits, high‑speed chases and the use of tire deflation devices, commonly known as spike strips or stop strips.
“This case raises serious questions about how and why this pursuit was allowed to continue at high speeds, and why escalation tactics – including spike strips – were used despite clear warnings of the danger,” diTrapano said.
Another attorney representing the mother says the allegations in the complaint “make clear that this was not a split-second decision.”
Forbes
“This is an incredibly troubling case involving an innocent passenger who called 911 begging for help but was unable to escape a situation that continued to escalate,” attorney Jesse Forbes told The Record. “Instead of receiving the help he begged for, as alleged, Mr. Frazier sat helplessly as the driver would not stop and law enforcement took active measures to wreck the vehicle while he was trapped inside.
“Mr. Frazier did everything he could – he called 911, he asked for help, and he pleaded for the pursuit to slow down so that he could get out. Those pleas, as alleged, were ignored, and his family is now left to live with the consequences.”
According to the complaint, the events began around 12:50 a.m. on August 12, 2024, when Beckley police officer David Snuffer stopped a 2008 Ford Focus driven by Rodney “R.J.” Snodgrass on Neville Street for failure to yield and expired registration, both misdemeanor violations. Frazier was riding in the passenger seat.
Snuffer suspected drug paraphernalia in the vehicle and called officer Lauryn Birchfield and her narcotics K‑9 to the scene, along with Cpl. Timothy Capehart, officer Brandon Gregory and other Beckley officers, the filing states. As Birchfield began an exterior sniff of the car, Snodgrass “on his own accord and volition, sped off, with Adam Matthew Frazier still in the passenger seat,” giving Frazier “no chance to leave the vehicle,” the complaint alleges.
What followed, Keaton says, was “an extended high‑speed vehicular pursuit across Raleigh, Fayette, and Nicholas counties” involving at least 16 officers from six agencies, despite “no indication of extraordinary circumstances or a public danger.”
Officers from Beckley and the Raleigh County Sheriff’s Office allegedly kept chasing even as the car crossed into Fayette County, where Fayetteville police and Fayette County deputies joined, and then into Nicholas County, where Nicholas County deputies and Summersville officers picked up the pursuit.
During the chase, Frazier called 911, telling a dispatcher he “did not want to be there and wanted out of the vehicle,” according to the complaint. Keaton says Frazier put the call on speaker so dispatch could talk to both men, and the recording captures Frazier “begg(ing) and plead(ing) with Snodgrass to slow down” while Snodgrass “threatened to crash the car multiple times” and “plainly stated his suicidal ideations.”
Snodgrass allegedly told the dispatcher he would pull over and let Frazier out “if they would slow down,” but officers “continued the pursuit at dangerously high speeds, extinguishing any chance of escape by Mr. Frazier,” the suit claims.
The 911 call allegedly lasts about 20 minutes, with Snodgrass telling dispatch he was scheduled to start treatment for suicidal thoughts and shouting that he did not want to live anymore, while Frazier can be heard saying he will “jump out if Snodgrass would slow down.”
Snodgrass’ father also called Nicholas County 911, according to the complaint, telling dispatch he had spoken with his son, that Snodgrass “was not going to stop the car,” and asking officers to “call off this thing and we’ll hunt his butt down later” because they knew who he was. The father said his son had a passenger named Adam in the car and was threatening to crash, and urged that “maybe they can call off this thing” so his son wouldn’t take his friend with him, the suit states.
The complaint says Snodgrass’ father informed Nicholas 911 he asked his son “Does Adam want to die too?” He responded, “No, but I’m sorry dad, but I’m sorry, but I’m not going back to jail.”
Despite those warnings, Keaton alleges, officers from all participating agencies “ignored Mr. Frazier’s and Snodgrass Sr.’s pleadings and instead assisted Snodgrass with his death wish by maintaining dangerously high pursuit speeds and by deploying measures that ensured Snodgrass lost control of the fast‑moving vehicle.”
As the chase moved north on U.S. 19 toward Summersville Lake, Raleigh County law enforcement officers allegedly asked Nicholas County and Summersville officers to coordinate the use of stop strips.
The complaint says Nicholas County and Summersville officers, including deputies Buford Bingham and Bailey Armstrong and Summersville Sgt. S.C. Mullins, positioned themselves near Hughes Bridge over Summersville Lake and prepared to deploy the tire deflation devices.
Keaton alleges that at approximately 1:22 a.m., Bingham, Armstrong and Mullins laid stop strips across the northbound lanes “in ignorance of critical facts … such as the speed of the target vehicle,” but “under complete advisement” that Frazier was an innocent passenger being held against his will. Frazier’s “last words” on the 911 call include him crying “my wife and children” repeatedly, the pleading states.
When Snodgrass’ vehicle hit the stop strips, it traveled about eight‑tenths of a mile, then “careen(ed) from the northbound lane of US‑19 into the median, then onto the southbound lane before colliding with a tree adjacent to the road,” according to the complaint.
Both men were pronounced dead at the scene.
Keaton accuses the pursuing officers of “reckless intent to cause death or serious injury to Snodgrass, and by extension, Mr. Frazier,” alleging their actions “affirmatively created and significantly increased the danger” and were “so egregious and so outrageous that it may be said to shock the contemporary conscience.”
She also accuses Bingham, Armstrong and Mullins of a separate Fourteenth Amendment claim tied specifically to the use of stop strips during a high‑speed chase of a car with an innocent passenger.
The complaint also includes claims for negligence, negligent training and negligent supervision against each city and county commission.
Keaton seeks funeral and medical expenses, lost income and services, damages for Frazier’s pain and suffering and her own loss of companionship and enjoyment of life, plus attorney fees, court costs and other relief. She seeks compensatory and punitive damages from individual officers and municipal liability from the political subdivisions, but expressly disclaims punitive damages against the cities and county commissions.
She is being represented by diTrapano, Charles Bellomy and Amanda Davis of Calwell Luce diTrapano in Charleston and by Forbes, Jennifer Taylor and Michael Heidenrich of Forbes Law Offices in Charleston.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia case number 2:26-cv-00315
