pm7...@comcast.net wrote:
Amongst the "Experts" there is no consensus of correct action here.
Who needs "experts"?
Either police chases offer some benefit to society that's worth more than the
300 or so lives lost annually, or they don't. This isn't a pro-cop/anti-cop
subject, it's a simple policy choice, with widely available statistical data to
inform the choice. If we end these chases, the lives we save (or about 1/5 of
them anyway) may be the cops'.
a duty sargent will often call of a pusuit using third person judgement. I wouldn't second guess him either.
I would, as did the author of the opinion piece I linked. How in the world would
he know, listening to the chase on the radio, when it gets out of hand? The only
one in a position to know is the chaser, but he's to busy chasing (and fueled by
adrenalin) to think about it.
Many cops do, of their own volition, break off a chase when the fleeing
subject's actions appear to be dangerous. Many others don't, and then when the
dash cam tapes are released after a fatality, we look at them with the benefit
of hindsight and think "this was nuts, no traffic ticket could be worth that".
BTW, when making my initial reply, I failed to catch the part about the car
doing the T-bone traveling at 80mph. Due to the velocity squared factor, that
car at 80mph probably had significantly more kinetic energy than the van that
hit the W124 at 60mph. (I'm still impressed by the W124's performance,
especially considering that it was designed around 1985)
Mitch.
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