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Concern over Police Pursuit Fatalities in California

Every year, high-speed police chases in California and nationwide, result in over 350 police pursuit fatalities. That information comes via a report in USA Today, which was revealed from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recent statistics.

According to the USA Today review, there may be more people being killed in these situations than we know. Experts believe that the actual numbers of innocent bystanders being killed in high-speed police chase accidents, is likely at least five times higher. Those high fatality rates have renewed debate across the country, over whether restrictions must be placed on high pursuit police chases. Some states have begun the process of implementing restrictions in order to reduce the numbers of people killed every year in such crashes.

The Salazars of Dinuba in California are no strangers to the high risks to innocent bystanders and motorists, during high-speed chases. Carlos and Jennifer Salazar were involved in exactly such an accident last year. They were traveling with their five children, and were on their way to a sports game when their vehicle was struck by a pickup traveling at a high speed. The pickup driver was on the run from police officers.

The five Salazar children in the car, died instantly. All the children were below eight years of age. The three people in the pickup truck also died in the crash. It later turned out that the men had had stolen the pickup truck just a couple of hours before police began to chase them.

Critics of high speed police chases, including California car accident lawyers, say that very often, motorists, who choose to flee when a police officer attempts to pull them over, have offenses they want to hide. Often, these people are wanted for another offense. These people are more likely to panic, and drive at excessive speeds to throw the police officers off. A desperate, reckless, speeding motorist is a lethal weapon on California’s streets. A panicked motorist has little concern for his or her safety or the safety of other motorists on the road. The result of such speeding can be disastrous for an innocent motorist, who gets caught in a situation over which they had no control.

There is no nationwide system to record the deaths of innocent motorists who get caught in a high-speed police chase. There is no requirement that such accidents and police pursuit fatalities be recorded. Therefore, there’s a very high probability that the numbers of people actually killed in such high-speed police chase-related crashes, is much higher.

Last month, Milwaukee implemented changes to its high-speed police chase policies. Now, officers in the state must have a probable suspicion that a violent felony has been committed in order to begin chasing a suspect. Earlier, these officers could begin a chase only if they had a reasonable suspicion of a violent felony.

Pressure to implement such changes is mounting in other states, including California. A Chico woman is heading an organization called Voices Insisting on Pursuit Safety to change the state’s chase policies.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of car accidents. Please visit our website at http://www.robertreeveslaw.com/. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us at contact@robertreeveslaw.com.

The Reeves Law Group is not representing any party in the matters discussed in this posting.

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