High-Speed Police Chases: One Person Can Make A Difference

On our blog, we have written numerous articles about the dangers associated with high speed police chases. Our firm has handled numerous wrongful death and serious injury cases arising out of these very dangerous pursuits.
By and large the public does not appreciate just how dangerous police chases are. Indeed, more people are killed each year from police chases than are killed as a result of police firearm incidents. Over the last ten (10) years more people have died in police chases than were killed in 9/11. Over the last ten (10) years, the number of those killed an injured as a result of police chases approximate the number of those killed and injured in the Iraqi war.
And yet, one of the reasons that this problem is unappreciated by the public-at-large is the random nature of these events. One police chase occurs in one rural area in one state and someone is killed or injured and there may be some local publicity attendent to that event but it is not connected to another incident of an almost identical nature that occurs across the country in another state and another locale. And yet, national statistics bear out that approximately 500 people each year are killed and thousands and thousands of others are injured as a result of these very dangerous police practices.
One person who is making a difference in educating the public about the need for enlightened policies and procedures by the law enforcement community in general relative to these police chases is Ms. Candy Priano, the Director of Voices Insisting on Pursuit Safety. Voices Insisting on Pursuit Safety is a non-profit organization formed by Ms. Priano in response to the death of her own daughter, who was killed as a innocent third party in a high speed police chase case. Ms. Priano lost her daughter because the police were chasing another teenager for driving her mother’s car without permission. That teenager’s vehicle crashed into the Priano family vehicle, resulting in the death. After that tragedy, Ms. Priano learned that she was not alone in suffering the loss of a loved one as a result of an unwise police chase. She later learned that the national statistics relative to this problem are staggering. Ms. Priano also learned that many of the victims of police chase cases are completely and totally innocent as was her daughter and simply are people at the wrong place at the wrong time who get caught up in a chase where the police are pursuing a suspect (many times for a minor traffic offense). In far too many cases, she has learned that while these chases are occurring, innocent third parties are killed or injured, typically when their vehicle is crashed into by the fleeing suspect or they are run over while riding their bike or walking along the side of the road. Indeed, if one goes to the website Voices Insisting on Pursuit Safety, one can read many stories about the many tragedies that have been experienced across this country as a result of unregulated and unwarranted high speed police chases.
The solution to the problems caused by high speed police chases is education of the law enforcement community and the public in general. The public understandably wants the police to chase violent offenders who are a danger to the public because the dangers associated with chases are worth it in such matters because otherwise a violent felon may go free and harm someone through their criminal acts. However, it makes little or no sense to expose the public to grave dangers when someone has committed a traffic or other minor offense. The best policies are those which restrict police chases to those involving violent felonies. If no violent felony has occurred, the police should not chase the offender, particularly in congested traffic areas where members of the public could be exposed to the dangers attendant to such chases.
Once the public fully appreciate the significant nature of the danger associated with these chases, typically they are more receptive to restrictive police policies which forbid chases in contexts where the danger to innocent members of the motoring public is greater than the need to apprehend the suspect. In cases where the danger to the motoring public is greater than the need to apprehend the suspect, simply stated, there should be no chase. Voices Insisting on Pursuit Safety is an organization that is trying to get this message across and Candy Priano is working hard to educate the public in this regard.
One person can make a difference as is demonstrated by the tireless efforts of Ms. Priano. The best evidence that can be offered in support of this assertion is an examination of her website and the work that is being done by her organization. Through her public outreach Ms. Priano is literally saving lives by helping to restrict these dangerous chases to situations where they are necessary to protect the public. We commend her for her efforts.