Another Innocent Victim Killed in a Police Chase for a Stolen Car

In February of this year, an active member of the military at Fort Benning, Sgt. Joanna Joy Ringer, age 21, was reportedly killed as yet another innocent victim in a police chase case. This time, the, innocent victim, Ms. Ringer, was killed because the police were chasing a 17 year old teenager for joyriding in a stolen pickup truck. Ms. Ringer, like all such victims, was simply at the wrong place, at the wrong time when the fleeing suspect ran head on into her car.
How many innocent people have to die before the police will understand that the dangers caused by a police chase are far greater than the dangers caused by a joyriding teenager? Why is it so important to law enforcement to recover a stolen pickup truck when the death penalty to the innocent is the likely result of using a high speed pursuits to do so? These questions remain after the death of Sgt. Ringer, and many more, about whether such pursuits should ever be authorized when a non-violent felony is involved.
The police take the position, of course, that their job is to enforce the law and that it is important that they catch those who break the law. We agree. On the other hand, a 17 year old teenager who is joyriding is not necessarily a grave risk of causing deadly harm to the public. And yet we know from statistics that one person in this country dies everyday during police chases. Police chases are very dangerous to the innocent members of the public. We submit that it is not justifiable for the police to use to what amounts to deadly force in pursuing suspects for non-violent offenses when it is clear that the dangers to the public caused by the chase itself outweighs the dangers presented by the suspect being pursued.
We recommend that our readers go to a website entitled PursuitSafety.org. There you will see some of the faces of 2,700 innocent victims of police chase cases. These haunting photographs hopefully will encourage law enforcement to review and change their policies. If not, litigation may be the best key to changing these policies. As in other areas of society, a lawsuit can cause change and lawsuits are clearly necessary to effectuate the charges that are needed in this area.
Finch McCranie, LLP will continue to proudly represent the innocent victims of these chases and will continue to file lawsuits on their behalf where it is clear that there has been a reckless disregard of proper police procedure. Again, the hope is that large verdicts against police departments may encourage them to reconsider their present posture in the matters. Chase? Yes – but only for those dangerous enough to expose the public to the dangers of the chase. Non-violent offenders do not meet this test.