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Today's Poll: Should police break off high speed chases?

By Howard B. Owens
Karen Miconi

Law enforcement should stop their pursuit, when the perp is headed into populated areas, such as the city streets of Batavia. It was a very risky chase yesterday, for the fact that it started around 2:30pm. The schools begin releasing children at 2:40, and walkers especially walking home on the sidewalks were at High Risk. There are school busses dropping kids off, and families in vechicles picking kids up. Not to mention, not 3 minutes before the truck hit the house there were 2 small children getting into a car in that driveway, and a father had just pulled out to go pick up his girls . A whole family could have been wiped out within seconds.
Maybe next time, the police need to rethink what could happen, and maybe handle it a little differently than they did. Im sure in the heat of the moment, they didnt have time to consider the direction he was heading, and the danger they were putting people in.
As for the driver, I hope if anything, he escapes with his life, and a good lesson. I pray he survives......

Mar 10, 2010, 9:20am Permalink
Howard B. Owens

First, I forgot to put the poll on the home page in the morning.

Second, anything I would say in response to Karen's comment above is covered in the other thread.

Mar 9, 2010, 4:05pm Permalink
Anthony Timberlake

Gary, you don't get the point. It's not like there wouldn't be a pursuit. There would not be one in a populated area like this with a large amount of pedestrians. Let's get real.

Mar 10, 2010, 12:14am Permalink
C. M. Barons

Anthony, these guys are dying to step in the car with Popeye Doyle and fly down 86th Street. Frankly, tailing some pickup truck doesn't sound like much. Cough up some muscle cars: a 2010 Mustang, Camaro and Trans Am. Give Johnny Law something worth going for! After all, if you're gonna take out a few pedestrians and school children it better be worth it. Better yet, go to Blockbuster and rent Gumball Rally, Eat My Dust and The original Blues Brothers.

Mar 10, 2010, 1:21am Permalink
Doug Yeomans

Nobody can outrun the radio. There's seldom a situation where a high speed chase is warranted. The chase always seems to end badly for someone else and the reason for the chase never warrants the resulting damage or injury.

The chases usually start with some incident like minor speeding or some other perceived traffic infraction. Sure, it's a felony to run from the cops but I think the cops have a responsibility to the greater number of people minding their own business. Once you're in the sights of the police cruiser, your vehicle and more than likely your license plate is on video. They can radio down the road and try to set up an intercept.

If the driver is a suspect in a murder or bank robbery using a firearm, by all means chase them down. For petit larceny, speeding, traffic infractions..etc, that does not warrant putting everyone else's life at risk. The police can catch up with them later in a more safe manner.

Speaking of bad driving, I routinely see police breaking the speed limit, not using their headlights while their wipers are in use, not signaling for turns, etc. Come on guys, set the example! You give out tickets for these things and then do it yourself.

Mar 10, 2010, 11:06am Permalink

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