"Car crashes into Northeastside daycare"

Yesterday, a fleeing Jeep clipped another car and ran, literally, through a daycare in Indianapolis. Luckily it looks like all the children who were hurt will survive, although one was injured critically. There seems to be some debate on whether it was a pursuit.

"I don't even know if this will go on the record as a police pursuit," said Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Lt. Jeff Duhamell, who said it wasn't clear whether the officer who responded ever "got within a couple hundred yards" during the three minutes that elapsed between the time the officer spotted the Jeep and when it smashed into the brick side of Stepping Stones Child Care, 2511 E. 46th St.

While the police might be hesitant to call it a pursuit, the suspects have been charged with fleeing police. I was quoted in the article in regards to departments and their policies.

Police chases that end in accidents can be a sensitive topic for police departments. Experts said with each pursuit that ends in tragedy, departments are pressured to relax their chase strategies, and many have.

"It often takes some terrible event, but more departments are making changes every year," said John Phillips, director of Pursuit watch.org, a Web site that studies police pursuit policies. "It's sad but true.

To read the entire article, click HERE.

Hot pursuit: Dashcam video fuels Rugby Road chase debate

I was recently quoted in an article about a pursuit in Virginia that raised a lot of questions.

About two months after the August 7 incident, which captured widespread attention after the car’s driver somehow disappeared from a seemingly fatal wreck, a 17-year-old city student was arrested in mid-October, according to Charlottesville spokesperson Ric Barrick, who— in response to a reporter’s request— released a tape of the chase, a 112-second video in which even the police car hits 85mph on the residential road.

This is a very interesting article, and the journalism is top notch. To continue,

Despite fears that crime would explode, Orlando and Orange County, Florida, went ahead in 2004 with what may be the nation’s most restrictive ones. They limit pursuits to those involving people suspected of violent crimes.

John Phillips remembers all too well what spurred the policy.

In 2001, when he was 18 years old, his older sister was a college sophomore preparing to enter a nursing program. Sarah Phillips went out one night with three friends to a movie. After dropping off her friends, she unknowingly found herself on the same road as a police pursuit.

To read the rest, click HERE.

Officer responsible for the death of a 10-year-old bike rider gets.... One day suspension

This one is frustrating:

On October 17, [Cpl. Michael] Vaughn was racing from one call to another when his squad car fatally struck 10-year-old Cole Berardi, who was riding his bicycle on a darkened portion of Belt Line Road in southeast Dallas... Cpl. Vaughn's lights and siren were not activated as required.

To continue...

The police accident report released lists speed as a contributing factor in the accident. It states that the speed of Cpl. Vaughn's vehicle ranged from 69 mph to 72 mph at the time of impact. The speed limit on that stretch of road is 40 mph.

A horrible event, but what makes this even more frustrating is the punishment for the officer.

A Dallas police officer who fatally struck a child last October received a one-day suspension during a disciplinary hearing this afternoon.

Outrageous. I don't know how this punishment could be defended.

For the rest, click HERE.

"CMPD says 23 percent of pursuits end in a wreck"

From News 14 in North Carolina:

"CMPD, and any police agency, they don't initiate a pursuit. The suspect does. They refuse to stop," CMPD Deputy Chief Ken Miller said.

Grassroots watchdog organizations advocating for safer pursuit policies remain concerned. John Phillips, president of Pursuitwatch.org said the organization isn't against all police chases, but feels there should be tighter restrictions.

"Sometimes it's forgotten that the job isn't necessarily to catch the bad guy, but to protect the public," John Phillips, president of Pursuitwatch.org, said.

For the rest, including video, click HERE.

Chris Cooper's killer gets 15 years, family wants reform

A PursuitWatch reader pointed out the development in the Chris Cooper story. 17 year old Chris was riding his bike while he was struck and killed by Wilfredo Pujols who was being pursuit by the Independence Police Department. 

PhillipsWatch blogged about this in November of 07 when it occurred. 

For more on the sentence, as well as Chris' family's goal to change the Independence Missouri's pursuit policy, click HERE. 

When PursuitWatch first discussed the death of Chris, his mother Cheryl left a comment. She wrote:

Christopher Cooper is my beloved son. He was hit and killed on November 8, 2007, during a high speed police pursuit. His loss has left us devastated and struggling to find a way to justify his death. In Independence, the support from the public is for the police department, and we will have an uphill battle trying to convince them that their policy is deeply flawed. God bless you, John, for carrying on your father's work. I look at your site each day for ways in which I can bring about change in the way pursuits are conducted. Thank you for your time.
Cheryl Cooper

Danbury News Times

In yesterdays edition the Danbury News Times of Danbury, Connecticut ran several stories concerning police pursuits.

First, Robert Miller asked, "Are police pursuits worth the risk?"

For those reasons, the era of the high-speed chase -- beloved by movie directors and TV cop reality shows -- is ending in many places.

"I think that's what's happening,'' said John Phillips of Orlando, Fla., who runs the Web site Pursuit Watch, which tracks police chases across the country.

"A police officer who's a friend of mine puts it this way: 'Our job isn't to arrest some guy. It's to protect the community,''' Phillips related.

Next, Brian Koonz offered his commentary.

Police pursuits in Connecticut should be forbidden for all misdemeanor charges, and all non-violent felony charges that do not involve a weapon or the probable suspicion of a weapon.

Understand, these chases are not stock footage for the next installment of "Cops" or some other reality-based police show. This is real life, where law enforcement at all costs is not always the right answer.

And finally, John Pirro discusses the pursuit of a speeding vehicle. 

John Phillips, who runs the Web site PursuitWatch.org, which chronicles police pursuits in the United States, agrees. But while saying Hildebrandt's crime did not fit his punishment, Phillips could also look at the situation from the viewpoint of police officers, who "go out and put their lives at risk every day for their communities.

"Why put them in these kinds of situations?'' Phillips said of high-risk pursuits.

PursuitWatch quoted in Ottawa Citizen

OTTAWA - A U.S. police pursuit watchdog organization says police should never have pursued the suspected cigarette smuggler who ended up killing a senior couple from upstate New York and himself in a violent collision after a high-speed chase on Cornwall Island Friday night.

"If someone is suspected of anything less than a violent crime, then it is not worth the risk to the officers and the public to pursue the suspect," said John Phillips, president of PursuitWatch.org, a national association of citizens and police officers that lobbies for safer police pursuits.

Read the entire piece HERE. 

Monday 11/24: WFTV @ 6PM

I'll be appearing as part of a story about the PIT maneuver on the Orlando ABC network, WFTV, this evening at 6 PM. Check back for more updates. 

OnStar's Stolen Vehicle Slowdown Released

Below is the press release for OnStar's Stolen Vehicle Slowdown technology. This is a good start, but considering it will only be an available option on a very small percentage of the vehicles out there... A smart, safe, and responsible pursuit policy must be in place in departments around the country.

OnStar Launches Stolen Vehicle Slowdown®

New technology will assist public safety officials
in OnStar stolen vehicle cases, help save lives



DETROIT (October 9, 2008, 12:01 a.m.) – General Motors (GM) and OnStar today launched Stolen Vehicle Slowdown on more than 1 million model year 2009 GM vehicles in the U.S. and Canada. Stolen Vehicle Slowdown is the latest enhancement to OnStar’s Stolen Vehicle Assistance service and enables OnStar to further help law enforcement in the recovery of subscribers’ stolen vehicles, while helping to reduce fatalities and injuries resulting from police chases. Working with law enforcement and utilizing its unique built-in technology, OnStar can remotely send a signal that interacts with the vehicle’s engine, gradually slowing it down, aiding in a safe recovery.



“No other automaker provides its’ customers the peace of mind that OnStar Stolen Vehicle Slowdown does,” said Chet Huber, OnStar president. “Our subscribers have told us they don’t want their vehicle to be the instrument of harm.”



National Highway Traffic Safety Administration statistics show 30,000 police chases occur each year, resulting in approximately 300 deaths. Stolen Vehicle Slowdown will help take high speed pursuits out of the equation, as well as the probability that a subscriber’s stolen vehicle will be crashed during a chase.



“Prior to Stolen Vehicle Slowdown, there were only three ways to stop a police chase; the officer elects to terminate the chase, the vehicle being pursued decides to stop or in the worse case scenario there is a crash,” said David Hiller, national vice president, Fraternal Order of Police. “With OnStar Stolen Vehicle Slowdown we now have an additional and obviously far safer method. We congratulate GM and OnStar for working with law enforcement as they developed this product.”



GM will integrate the capability on more than 1 million model year 2009 vehicles through OnStar’s newest generation of hardware, Generation 8. Chevrolet, GM’s largest division, will lead the effort with over half a million Chevrolet vehicles equipped with Stolen Vehicle Slowdown.



How Stolen Vehicle Slowdown Works

Once an OnStar subscriber has reported a stolen vehicle to law enforcement, he or she can call OnStar and request Stolen Vehicle Assistance. An OnStar advisor will use advanced Global Positioning Satellite technology to pinpoint the exact location of the stolen vehicle which will be provided only to law enforcement.



Once law enforcement officials have the stolen vehicle in a clear line of sight to know conditions are safe, they can request that the OnStar advisor remotely slow it down. OnStar will then send a signal to the vehicle’s engine, reducing engine power and gradually slowing the vehicle to idle speed while all other vehicle systems remain fully operational including power steering and brakes.



Because involvement from local law enforcement agencies is key to the safe execution of Stolen Vehicle Slowdown, OnStar conducted a 25-city public safety outreach tour across the United States to familiarize the public safety community with this revolutionary service, and let them experience the technology first-hand.



Subscribers who prefer not to have the Stolen Vehicle Slowdown capability on their vehicle may contact OnStar to opt out of the service at any time. The rest of their OnStar services will remain active and unaffected.



OnStar has offered Stolen Vehicle Assistance services with GPS location since 1996. It now receives approximately 700 Stolen Vehicle Assistance requests from subscribers each month, and has helped in 38,000 requests over the past twelve years. OnStar’s suite of services also includes Automatic Crash Response, Emergency Services, Remote Door Unlock, Roadside Assistance, Crisis Assist, OnStar Turn-by-Turn Navigation, Hands Free Calling and OnStar Vehicle Diagnostics.



OnStar’s Stolen Vehicle Slowdown is available exclusively on GM vehicles in the U.S. and Canada. The service is included in the OnStar subscription that comes standard for one year on eligible MY 2009 OnStar-equipped vehicles. For more information regarding OnStar’s services, please visit www.onstar.com.

OS: After pursuit, 2 arrested in carjacking

From the Orlando Sentinel:

Authorities arrested two men who carjacked an elderly man in Daytona Beach Shores on Sunday afternoon. The carjacking took place about 1 p.m. Sunday after their unsuccessful robbery attempt at a store in the same city. The men tried to flee the scene. A chase ensued on State Road 100 with Flagler County police. The men tried to make an abrupt U-turn, but their vehicle spun and was struck by a police car. The suspects were apprehended in Bunnell. The suspects have been identified as Craig William Miles, 26, of Braddock Lane in Daytona Beach, and his passenger, Jerry Edwin Royce, 53, of Holly Hill. No injuries were reported. Royce was released after deputies determined he wasn't involved in the crime. Miles is charged with fleeing and evading a police officer. Additional charges against Miles are pending, authorities said.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/volusia/orl-b3court13_108oct13,0,4243975.story