Relative questions death following police chase

When Lewes resident Suzanne Talbot heard her nephew had died following a crash with a police vehicle, she had a lot of questions.

“He shouldn't have died this way,” she said.

Richard M. Talbot, 32, was riding his bicycle southbound on Fisher Road near Route 9 at about noon June 23, when a Delaware State Police trooper searching for a burglary suspect spotted him on the bike in the area of Lazy Lake and Hunters Mill Estates. Sgt. Richard Bratz of the Delaware State Police said Talbot matched the description of the burglary suspect recently caught on video surveillance.

The trooper turned around his fully-marked 2016 Chevrolet Tahoe, activating emergency lights and a siren to follow Talbot, who refused to stop, Bratz said. Talbot continued in the same direction after the trooper verbally ordered him to stop, police said.

Bratz would not say how fast the bicycle was going, or whether the bike struck the police vehicle. He said only that the two vehicles were involved in a collision, and Talbot was taken to Beebe Healthcare where he was pronounced dead. He said it is an active ongoing investigation and information will be released when available.

The lack of information has left Suzanne Talbot and other members of her family wondering what happened.

“Someone had to have seen it,” she said about the afternoon crash. “There are so many different scenarios that could've happened.”

Suzanne said her nephew was a tattoo artist in Dover, and he had been in a serious motorcycle crash earlier this year. She also said his early life was marred by tragedy and abuse. At age 5, she said, his mother was killed, and he was placed in foster care, where he suffered abuse. “He came out of the system troubled,” Suzanne said.

Throughout his life, she said, he battled drugs and demons, but he also found happiness in his tattoo art, fishing and spending time with his 4-year-old daughter.

Suzanne said he didn't deserve to die, especially under such questionable circumstances.

She said she knows it may take awhile to get answers about the crash, but the family deserves answers.

“He didn't have it easy. It's a shame that it ended this way,” she said.