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Posted by David Sherman [216.18.131.216] on Monday, December 14, 2009 at 10:41:26 :
In Reply to: O T High Speed POLICE Chases posted by copey [206.80.249.115] on Monday, December 14, 2009 at 08:13:23 :
That kind of thing is why lots of police agencies have banned high-speed chases unless the original crime was something violent. Maybe in this case injuring the officer while escaping was enough justification, maybe not. The roads are too crowded, and the chased person almost always ends by crashing into something or someone. We had one in Everett where a guy left a bar drunk, the cops chased him and he drove into a tree at high speed and killed himself. Fortunately no one else was hurt, but still, is pulling over a drunk driver really worth risking a life? He could have just as easily hit a house or another driver. By the way, they also generally don't allow shooting at a moving vehicle -- shooting out the tires with a pistol only works in old movies, and again there's too much risk of injuring an innocent person.
When it comes to high-speed chases, the old adage that you can't out-run a radio is even more true today. I know it's hard to stop chasing once the adrenalin gets pumping, but the job of the cops is to protect the public safety, which sometimes conflicts with catching the bad guy right this instant.
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