In a San Joaquin Valley community, a tragic accident over the weekend has police re-evaluating their pursuit policy. A high-speed chase left eight dead, including five children.
It started in the city of Dinuba, when a police officer was going to make a routine traffic stop Saturday afternoon. The car took off, with the three youthful occupants determined to evade police.
It turned out that the car was stolen. A few miles down the road, the car blew a stop sign and struck a pickup carrying a family of seven to a youth football game. The children -- ages 1 to 8 -- were ejected and died.
The three in the stolen car - ages 16, 17 and 19 -- also were killed.
High-speed chases almost always end badly. It's better in most circumstances to let the crooks go. They'll soon be caught, either via radio or police helicopter. But these crashes are deadly because of the speed of the cars colliding.
This is a lesson that we must still learn.
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It's a sad day in the valley, with so many young lives wasted.
ReplyDeleteIt was sad that a high speed chased ended in so many deaths...it was also sad that none of the seven individuals in the cab truck were in seat belts; especially the children that were ages 8 and under...some might have survived if they had been in their proper restraints. It is my understanding that the police followed protocol during the chase. Was it worth it? Maybe not, but the car was stolen and who knows what else the occupants would have been up to if not stopped. A great tragedy all the way around!
ReplyDeleteIt is also a good idea, when you are in a rural area, to slow down during an intersection and look both ways, even if you have a right of way. My husband and I live in the country and were coming home one evening and we did not have a stop sign through the intersection we went through, but the other party had a stop sign. We slowed down and the other party ran the stop sign at a high rate of speed...lucky for us!