{"id":1747,"date":"2008-07-07T11:05:00","date_gmt":"2008-07-07T11:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:8888\/wordpress\/police_chase_cases_and_innocen\/"},"modified":"2024-12-17T16:06:51","modified_gmt":"2024-12-17T21:06:51","slug":"police-chase-cases-and-innocen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.finchmccranie.com\/blog\/police-chase-cases-and-innocen\/","title":{"rendered":"Police Chase Cases and Innocent Passengers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Since the seminal case of Scott v. Harris as decided by the U. S. Supreme Court there seems to be a prevailing mood that \u201cthe gloves are off\u201d and the police can chase a suspect who defies their orders to pull over for as long as possible notwithstanding the dangers to the public. Fortunately, even though this has been the reading by some of the Supreme Court Opinion, the legal landscape is hardly as bleak as some would think. Indeed, state laws like that enacted by the Georgia Legislature (O.C.G.A. \u00a7 40-6-6) still provide protections for innocent members of the motoring public when the chasing police officer fails to exercise \u201cdue regard\u201d for the safety of the motoring public. An interesting question arises, however, when the police claim that they have a need to chase a fleeing suspect notwithstanding the dangers to the motoring public. While this may be true in some cases with respect to the suspect himself the question arises as to what should be done in the context of a fleeing suspect when he or she has in their vehicle passengers who may be completely unconnected with the reasons for the chase.<\/p>\n

A typical example of what we are concerned about is the situation in which a teenage driver with teenage friends in his car is asked to pull over by a police officer. For whatever reason, the teenage driver decides to take off. The teenage driver may be driving without a license, he may be joy riding, he may be on juvenile probation, he may be in violation of his parents orders to return home at a certain time, etc. In short, teenage drivers are known to panic for a variety of reason unconnected with their danger to the public. And yet, if the police decide to chase such a suspect, not only are they endangering the fleeing suspect\u2019s life and other members of the motoring public, they are clearly endangering the rights of the passengers trapped inside the vehicle.<\/p>\n

We have been involved in several cases dealing with trapped passengers. Passengers in vehicles do not know what the driver may or may not have done in all cases. In some cases, the passengers may be in on the criminal acts being investigated by the police. In many other cases, however, there may be no evidence whatsoever that the passengers in the vehicle have done anything wrong and yet because they are trapped inside the vehicle, they are exposed to the risk of death by the police as chases continue in some cases for miles. We continue to believe that passengers like other third parties involved in these chases have rights which must be recognized by police. If the police have a reason to chase a suspect, so be it, however, when the danger to the public caused by the chase itself exceeds the danger to the public caused by the suspect\u2019s alleged transgressions, then in that event, the police must exercise due regard for the rights of passengers just as they must exercise due regard for the safety of innocent third party motorists.<\/p>\n

Continue reading<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Since the seminal case of Scott v. Harris as decided by the U. S. Supreme Court there seems to be a prevailing mood that \u201cthe gloves are off\u201d and the police can chase a suspect who defies their orders to pull over for as long as possible notwithstanding the dangers to the public. Fortunately, even […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[44],"class_list":["post-1747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-personal-injury-wrongful-death","tag-personal-injury"],"yoast_head":"\nPolice Chase Cases and Innocent Passengers — Trial Attorney Blog — July 7, 2008<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Since the seminal case of Scott v. Harris as decided by the U. S. 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