Do police chases put innocent bystanders at risk? Experts outline the dangers of police pursuits.
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — High-speed police chases can lead to the arrest of suspected criminals.
But do the chases pose a greater risk to the public than the suspects being pursued by officers?
Is it time to hit the brakes on police pursuits?
A police chase with local ties is at the center of this debate.
It started in Lawrence County, where police chased U-Haul driver Scott Pelton across the state line into Ohio as other agencies joined in the pursuit. Along the 12-mile stretch, Pelton smashed into more than a dozen vehicles and injured 14 people before crashing and being taken into custody in Youngstown.
The reason for his flight? Pelton was found to have some stolen tires in the truck, raising the question: Was his capture worth the carnage that the chase caused?
"The problem is that the chases themselves are extremely dangerous," University of Pittsburgh law professor David Harris said. "And not just to the person who is running from police. But for pedestrians, other drivers or innocent people."
In recent years, law enforcement agencies have come to believe the danger police chases pose to innocent citizens most often far outweighs the benefits of capturing a fleeing suspect.
After the high-speed police pursuit of a drug suspect in 2016 led to horrific and tragic deaths of a family of three, Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala tried to rein in police chases.
"This is my expectation," Zappala said. "You will not pursue unless it's a violent felony. You will not pursue unless a child or some hostage situation is at play."
The United States Justice Department now advises police agencies to pursue only rare incidents that meet the following threshold:
"1) A violent crime has been committed and (2) the suspect poses an imminent threat to commit another violent crime."
And yet the chases continue, sometimes with tragic consequences. Two years ago, officers with the Monroeville Police Department chased suspect Jack Sherwood through Churchill into Wilkinsburg, where he struck and killed bystander Luis Hernandez. In court papers, the family says the chase reached speeds of 107 miles per hour even though police knew Sherwood's home address and could have picked him up at any time.
In another local case, two women hit head-on by a fleeing suspect are suing the West Homestead Police Department for a police pursuit that court documents say reached 120 miles per hour on East Carson Street. The officer has been dismissed, but the suit says the women continue to suffer from physical and emotional injuries.
Harris said it's been difficult for local police departments to resist the urge to pursue.
"It's understandable that police officers would not want to have someone escape from them when they have pulled them over or have a warrant for their arrest," Harris said. "But not everything like that, in fact, few things like that are worth putting pedestrians and others in mortal danger."
According to Pennsylvania State Police statistics, there were 2,341 pursuits in the state last year. While about 57 percent of them resulted in arrests, the cost to lives and property was high. The chases resulted in 12 fatalities -- four of them uninvolved citizens.
Two hundred thirty-eight of the pursuits resulted in injuries, including injuries to 33 uninvolved citizens and 642 resulted in crashes, damaging or totaling 45 police and the cars of 24 uninvolved citizens.
Harris says it's time for a change.
"Our goal should be that not one pedestrian, not one civilian, not one other driver who is not involved should ever die as the result of a high-speed chase," Harris said. "
But it does go against the instinct of police officers to refrain from pursuing someone who has broken the law. And some say these restrictive chase policies give suspects a green light to take off and thumb their noses at police.
