Posted on 02/19/2023 7:24:44 AM PST by SeekAndFind
In Los Angeles this week, two police pursuits ended in collisions that killed an innocent driver and badly injured another. In the San Fernando Valley early Tuesday morning, fleeing robbery suspects crashed into a car driven by a 19-year-old student at Cal State Northridge, killing him. The driver of the pursued car was arrested, but his passenger escaped. A rifle was found in their car.
On Thursday evening in South Los Angeles, a man driving a stolen pickup truck fled from police when they tried to stop him. He ran a red light and crashed into a car, critically injuring the woman driver. These incidents came two weeks after another horrific collision in the San Fernando Valley in which two men were killed when their car was struck by a car fleeing the police.
The California Highway Patrol tracks statistics on police chases throughout the state, including those involving its own personnel and those of local police and sheriff’s departments. In 2020, the most recent year for which a report is available, there were 11,650 police pursuits in California, 2,478 of which involved collisions. Of these, 2% resulted in fatal injuries, 35% resulted in non-fatal injuries, and 63% resulted in property damage only.
Among the 61 deaths resulting from pursuits, 49 were either a driver or passenger in the pursued vehicle, and 12 were of uninvolved parties. Of those with non-fatal injuries, 68% were drivers or passengers in pursued vehicles, 26% were uninvolved parties, and 6% were police officers.
The natural reaction to a death or injury to an innocent bystander resulting from a pursuit is to question whether police should have been chasing in the first place. Had the pursuit not occurred, the innocent person would not have been killed or injured, therefore the police should not engage
(Excerpt) Read more at pjmedia.com ...
Imagine instead of an explosive it could set off an EMP-like pulse or HERF (High Energy Radio Frequency) to disable the vehicle.
police officers are supposed to uphold and enforce laws...
high speed pursuits are breaking laws on so many levels they should be illegal...
If your entire family was broadsided by a petty criminal being chased by cops, you'd be singing a very different tune.
If your entire family was broadsided by a petty criminal being chased by cops, you'd be singing a very different tune.
Let me tell you what I’d do. If the cops were chasing some idiot through the streets and my family was wiped out by this action, I’d I’d file the biggest lawsuit I could against the cops, city etc.
When occupants of a vehicle fail to stop during a routine traffic stop, how does the cop know what crimes the driver/occupants committed? Many times when pursuits are initiated, they subsequently find out the vehicle is stolen, and they have no clue who's driving or what crimes are involved.
The implications of that sentence are already official policy in many departments. In those jurisdictions, there are strict limits on police pursuit actions.
One might also notice that the number of police killed in traffic accidents during pursuits is greater than the number of police killed by criminals.
The reasons line up for everybody to limit highway pursuits.
It is already possible to disable a vehicle by remote control if it has the OnStar system installed. That option has been used many times in cases where a high-end vehicle has been stolen.
A recent change in Federal laws allows the government to require remote-controlled kill switches in every new vehicle made. That is coming.
“There is also the issue of how many rape/robbery/murder victims will suffer if the criminals know police will never pursue them.” I will second this thought. Washington state outlawed police pursuit a few years a go. Only emboldens the criminals.
Absolutely, which is why the penalties for resisting have to be very serious.
I owned my house in San Fernando Valley for 29 years-—just south of Northridge College.
I left So Calif almost 20 years ago.
DIDN’T feel safe then——Certainly wouldn’t now.
But that should never include innocents on the streets being killed simply because the cops want to make the arrest.
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