Posted on 08/09/2009 3:25:12 AM PDT by South40
I said nothing about letting them get away. But most cities are now instructing their cops to let people get away with a minor offense if trying to catch them means getting into a high speed chase.
The chance of killing an innocent is just too great to keep doing these chases.
I think it's best to let them go and try to catch them later in a safer way. Seven people shouldn't have to die because there was a warrant out for this guy over a traffic violation--and even if he had a body in the car, a trunk load of drugs or what have you.
That's my opinion, and I stand with it.
Those were the good old days.
RIP.
All this talk of good cop, bad cop, yada, yada, yada...
It all boils down to one thing, policy. What is the chase policy of the agency involved. If the policy is to chase they do. If not, they don't.
There was a case in San Diego County in the 90s involving the Border Patrol. They were chasing suspected ILLEGALS and chased them through a school zone where they crashed into kids sitting on a bus stop. I forgot how many kids were killed but the BP changed policy becasue of it.
I have a feeling the city of Dinuba will soon be changing their policy too.
Exactly. There’s no easy answer on this. You want them to catch the criminals, but there is no doubt that high-speed pursuits put the public at risk.
I don’t have an answer. I mean, the car being chased in this case was allegedly carjacked, so you may well be talking about some exceptionally bad dudes, who may in and of themselves be a danger to the public if they were not caught.
I’d be interested to know if the perps in this case turn out to be illegals, as well. I’d actually be surprised if they aren’t.
The only good thing to come out of this story is that the three people in the car being pursued were killed. The rest is horribly tragic.
MSNBC just aired this story and from the video I saw the collision occurred in an agricultural area and not in the city. Even so, 7 people are dead; none were wearing seat belts.
I learned a while back just to just lurk on these threads.
No matter where you stand on the situation or circumstances, it's a flame war either way, ya can't win
That's pretty much as I imagined it, being somewhat familiar with the area. There are a lot of straight two-lane roads, puncutated every mile or two by four-way stops. Some citrus, nectarines, pomegranates, etc., are grown in the area, so you don't always have much visibility approaching those intersections.
It sounds like you are very familiar with the area as that's exactly what it looked like. Both vehicles involved would up in the ag fields.
I've always thought it odd that California law requires that you tether a dog in the back of a truck but kids can ride there. I'm not for tying up kids but perhaps they should not be allowed to ride in the backs of trucks.
No matter where you stand on the situation or circumstances, it's a flame war either way, ya can't win
Unfortunately Ron, you are right.
I started this thread and 170 posts later I've yet to voice my opinion either way.
People can get passionate about this issue. And the more passionate they are the more flaming will occur.
Oh yeah? You know what I think of people who post stuff like that?
LOL
Indeed, but these in particular get outright nasty and time consumming.
So, what do you think....just kidding
How do you get 7 people...including the kids’ carseats into a pickup truck? Unless they gave an inaccurate description of their vehicle, I only know of room for 5 passengers including an adult driving.
You want a “worst outcome”???
OK, The guy flees a minor traffic ticket (which is right there bringing the stop up to felony territory) because he’s split with the wife/SO/GF, is pissed, and is hauling all of the kids off to kill them.
By no means am I a fan of the state or flashing lights revenuers, but if you tromp the pedal down in a traffic stop, you’re sweating something WAY worse than a $250 ticket and it’s an INSTANT SIGNAL to the cops that you are too...
Realistically, the guy was just drunk, or had a bag of meth, or some other dumb crap like that, but once you demonstrate a willingness to flee the police you automatically force them to assume the worst.
Yea, those ones that the worthless bag-of-crap political whores and state lovers SWORE up and down would never be a stoppable offense in and of itself if you just support it.
That’s the same reason we’re gonna get socialized health care, ‘cause all of the dumbasses in this country are going to look at some watered down compromise as good and let the camels nose under the tent...
This happened in Dinuba.
Fresno has as much gang activity as other cities its size. Watching TV news you'd think it was a lot more.
Right. We've all heard of the many time this has happened as the result of a routine traffic stop... NOT. A reeeal desperate stretch.
"...but once you demonstrate a willingness to flee the police you automatically force them to assume the worst."
That's not the question, which is, does that automatically demand that the police then behave the worst, and endanger dozens of more innocent citizens... as in 7 dead, 4 of them children.
Doesn't pass the smell test. Not even close.
;-/
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