Trial Attorney Blog
Some lessons are never learned. The law enforcement community has known for almost 20 years now that the dangers attendant to high speed police chases are tremendous. Indeed, the data of such dangers began accumulating in the 1980’s that the public price of these high speed police chases was simply too great to continue to allow unrestricted chases by the police. By 1990, the data was inescapable. Indeed, in 1990 alone, there were 314 deaths and over 20,000 injuries associated with high speed police chases. Many of the deaths involved the police themselves (not to mention the fleeing suspects) and thousands of innocent third parties who got caught up in the chase. This was known over 17 years ago. Unfortunately, the law enforcement community still continues to defend its actions when death to the innocent is caused by unwarranted and unnecessary high speed chases.
It is estimated that today, on average, two persons die every day as a result of a police pursuit. Studies show that almost 40% of pursuits end in an accident and at least 10% cause personal injury and death. And pursuits become dangerous quickly with over 50% of the collisions occurring in the first two minutes of the chase and 70% occurring before the sixth minute. Regrettably, the vast majority of police pursuits do not involve an attempted stop for a violent felony, but instead typically involve minor traffic violations and suspected misdemeanors.
Most suspects flee the police not because they have committed a serious crime, but because they are frightened and do not want to face the consequences of the potential charges that could be brought. Contrary to conventional wisdom, police pursuit policies that restrict the discretion of police officers to chase after non-violent offenders does not result in an increase in number of suspects fleeing the police.
In 2002, the Hartford Insurance Company conducted a thorough review of police department high speed pursuit cases and determined that ten times more people are killed in high speed pursuits than are killed by police weapons. The Hartford Insurance Company found that a staggering 80% of those killed by high speed police pursuit were innocent bystanders. Based on this insurance company’s own statistical review of the data, the insurance company recommended that all police departments should adopt formal written polices and procedures covering the area of high speed pursuit. Hartford also recommended that once the policy and procedure was developed that it should be disseminated to all persons who might be involved in the activity and that formal training sessions should occur to make sure that everyone understood their responsibilities.
Regrettably, unnecessary loss of life and serious injury continue to occur when unwarranted high speed pursuits are initiated by the police. As of the date of this blog entry, our firm is representing three families who have suffered grievously as a result of a unwarranted high speed police pursuits involving minor traffic offenses. In one case, the driver was suspected of speeding and was noted to have been playing “loud music from the car.” A high speed police pursuit began with a result that a 21 year old college student was killed when her vehicle was struck head on by the suspect at a speed in excess of 110 miles per hour. In another case, a 17 year old juvenile was joy riding in a stolen pick up truck and once that police pursuit ended, one person was dead and another serious brain injured. Medical expenses for the survivor exceed $600,000.00 and, of course, the public has had to pick up the tab as the offender had no money and the injured individual had no insurance. The innocent survivor is permanently brain damaged and may likely become a ward of the State. Was this price worth it to catch this juvenile? Of course not.
The societal cost of continuing high speed pursuits clearly militates in favor of extremely restrictive policies concerning such activities. While the public wants dangerous offenders to be caught (such as kidnappers, murders, rapists and those who are truly a risk to the public) the statistical data has long demonstrated that the public is endangered unnecessarily when high speed pursuits are initiated involving those who are not suspected of having committed a violent or forcible felony. When violent or forcible felonies are involved, the risk to the public may be outweighed by the seriousness of the offense. However, when a minor traffic offense is involved, the risk of injury or death to an innocent member of the motoring public by these dangerous pursuits will always outweigh the seriousness of the suspected violation.
We are deeply disturbed over the continuing trend we see where police departments refuse to accept responsibility for their actions once they commence these high speed pursuits. The law enforcement community obviously believes that their primary function is to apprehend suspects, however; the duty to the public is paramount and public safety must always be considered in connection with the pursuit of a suspect. Because the data is overwhelming that a high speed pursuit case is much more dangerous to the public than is firing a police weapon, there must be greater training involved and more restrictive policies which prohibit the right of patrolmen to engage in such dangerous activities.
Here in Georgia, under O.C.G.A. § 40-6-6, the Georgia Legislature permits a victim of a high speed police chase to sue a government entity which recklessly disregards proper police procedure. Many experts have opined that such civil suits are the best deterrent that exists today to stop these dangerous practices. If enough successful lawsuits are brought, sooner or later the law enforcement community will be “brought to heel” and the practice may stop. Until juries are willing to side with plaintiffs, however; and it is likely that there will be a continuing slaughter on our roads by these unwarranted high speed pursuit cases. The innocent will be maimed, they will be crippled for life and they will be killed. Quite literally, the death penalty will be imposed on the innocent third party simply because of a suspected misdemeanor or traffic violation. This is an intolerable situation and must stop. And yet, it has not stopped and seventeen years of death and serious injury prove that that it has not.
We are hopeful that with respect to the cases we are handling that we can help to change the current environment that exists in Georgia and elsewhere whereby hopefully the law enforcement community will begin to follow proper police procedure what has long been known by the law enforcement community in general, that being that high speed pursuits are very rarely warranted and should be engaged in only in the most violent of felony cases.