Police chases are always interesting questions for the public. Should they happen? What should the responsibility be if a innocent person becomes involved? Is it worth it?
Injuryboard member Rick Shapiro had a interesting look at the issue:
When A Police Chase Results in Traffic Accidents, Who is Responsible?, Rick Shapiro | June 04, 2010 7:41 PM
The same thing happened in St Cloud on Friday. The drug task force was looking for Timothy Richard Gilles because of a drug warrant from Wright county. The St Cloud Times reported:
the Central Minnesota Drug Task Force asked for a marked squad car to help stop a vehicle just before 5 p.m. A Waite Park police officer and Stearns County deputies found the vehicle, a red Jeep Grand Cherokee, on Minnesota Highway 15 near Second Street.
Gilles was northbound on Highway 15 in the Jeep and started to speed west in the eastbound lane of Second Street South, police say.
The Waite Park officer followed the vehicle about half a mile before the collision near Waite Avenue.
The Jeep hit the driver’s side of a vehicle driven by a 30-year-old man who died as a result of the collision.
A 22-year-old woman who was eight months pregnant was a passenger. She was taken to St. Cloud Hospital with substantial injuries, police say, and was in serious but stable condition Friday night.
The guy they were chasing ran away and was later tased and captured.
Clearly, the police didn’t want to have this happen. Unfortunately, that isn’t the question that needs to be asked. Was proper procedure followed? Is what needs to be asked.
Early investigation will be important by a outside organization that isn’t looking for a certain conclusion. Video tapes and radio communications will need to be secured and reviewed for what was being said and done. Tough questions, but it will be important that they be asked.
Our sympathies go out to all of those involve who were injured or lost. As with any death in a Minnesota motor vehicle collision, there are a number of issues that will need to be reviewed. My partner, Joe Crumley, addressed this topic in a article for the Minnesota Lawyers Trial magazine. I was interviewed on the same topic.
