Questions remain in Snohomish County

Did the officer involved in a pursuit that led to the death of the fleeing suspect, an 18 year-old high school student, use the PIT maneuver?

Was it justified in this case?

Herald Writer Jackson Holtz asked Ron Kelley, a friend of PursuitWatch, his opinion:

The PIT generally is most effective between 25 and 45 mph, said Ron Kelley, a retired police driving instructor from the Osceola County Sheriff's Office, near Orlando, Fla.

Anything slower and the car being bumped doesn't have enough force to stall out when spun around, he said. At higher speeds the results are unpredictable.

Police haven't said how fast Privrasky was driving when the deputy attempted the PIT.

Nakao said he was driving behind the chase, which was moving fast.

"It's not every day you see a police chase like that," Nakao said.

He said he saw Privrasky's car leave the road and couldn't tell whether the deputy made contact with the car.

As police reconstruct the crash, they'll likely weigh everything the deputy had to take into consideration that night before attempting the PIT, Kelley said.

While the retired deputy is careful not to second-guess the deputy's decision, questions remain unanswered.

While the pursuit started because Privrasky was speeding, it became a felony when he did not pull over for the officer and tried to flee. Sheriff's deputies are allowed to chase vehicles only when a felony has been committed.

Kelley wondered whether Privasky's initial speeding warranted the risk of using the PIT, or could there have been another option? "Could he have been identified and arrested a later time at a later place?" he asked.

Captain Travis Yates of the Tulsa PD, another friend of PursuitWatch, was also quoted:

The PIT maneuver is an effective way to stop the bad guys, said Travis Yates, a captain with the Tulsa (Okla.) Police Department who runs PoliceDriving.com.

Like any police tool, it's not without some risk to both the pursued and the police, said Yates, who is considered an expert on PIT maneuvers.

"Anytime a law enforcement action ends in a fatality, it's a tragedy on both sides," Yates said. "We have to always remember that police don't go out on the streets and intend on going on pursuits. For some reason some people decide they want to flee."

Click HERE to read the whole story...

Greensboro News Record

The deaths of Linsay and Maggie Lunsford in early December are still being felt in North Carolina. The following editorial quoted Jim Phillips, founder of PursuitWatch.

Linsay Lunsford looked like she had a great future. Passionate about community service, the 18-year-old had moved to Greensboro in 2007 to attend UNCG to become an elementary school teacher. But a trip to Creedmoor on Dec. 1 to see family proved fatal. She was killed in a crash with a man fleeing from Franklinton police. The man, Guy Christopher Ayscue, high on cocaine, also was killed. So was Lunsford's nine-year-old sister, Maggie.

It's impossible to know if the sisters' deaths could have been avoided. Ayscue was being pursued because he had been driving on the wrong side of the road. Still, as Jim Phillips, the late founder of Pursuitwatch.org, said, "A drunk at 40 mph is much less dangerous than a drunk at 80 mph."

Pursuitwatch is just one of several Web sites dedicated to improving the safety of high-speed police chases. Such sites often are started, as Pursuitwatch was, by people left bereft after having an innocent family member killed as a result of a high-speed police chase. As reporter Ryan Seals' Sunday story in the News & Record pointed out, such deaths take place on a daily basis across America, with thousands injured annually because of them.

Click HERE to continue.

Teen flees, mom dies, children hurt

Minneapolis - A 15 year old in a stolen car fled from police and while speeding through an intersection Sunday, slammed into a car carrying a mother, her son, and her sons friend en route to Sunday school.

Hanna Abukar, 26, of Minneapolis died at the scene, according to the Hennepin County medical examiner's office. She was driving her son and a neighbor boy to Sunday school at a mosque, said Omar Jamal, executive director of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center. Abukar's son was in critical condition and the other boy was in stable condition, Jamal said.

Officers had tried to stop the teenager because of a simple traffic violation. When the boy refused, the pursuit began. Soon after, officers learned that the car they were chasing had been reported stolen. The pursuit was called off because of safety concerns about a half mile from the crash scene.

Let's hope the MPD exercises proper oversight of this incident.

Continue HERE.

The Daily Herald

An article was published today in the Daily Herald of Everett, Washington featuring quotes from PursuitWatch President John Phillips. We applaud the efforts of Herald writers Jackson Holtz and Jim Haley, for stressing the importance of smart pursuit policy by contrasting two local police pursuits with radically different outcomes. We urge the readers of this blog to read the full contents of the article HERE.

Somewhat inexplicably, given the body of the article, the authors end with a quote from Seattle attorney and police pursuit expert Andy Cooley, who states that, “[a]t the end of the day, the people who die [in police pursuits] are victims of the crime, they're not victims of the police… These are crime-related, not police-related fatalities.”

Cooley is correct in stating that innocent victims of police pursuits should hold the fleeing suspect accountable; that’s not a question. We cannot, however, control the decisions of fleeing suspects. Instead, the question is: should we compound the fleeing suspect’s bad judgment with another bad decision, and elect to chase him? At PursuitWatch, we think not. We believe that, in many circumstances, these victim’s lives could have been spared if smart, progressive, police pursuit polices were in place.

Belleview News-Democrat

I was asked to comment for a article in yesterday's Belleview News-Democrat concerning the use of video equipment in police cars. Illinois State Police have required troopers to activate their dashboard cameras whenever they turn on their emergency lights. If they fail to do so, they face punishment.

You can read the story HERE.

John Phillips, executive director of Florida-based PursuitWatch, which promotes safer police driving, said law enforcement agencies should post clear policies that limit high-speed chases and responses to violent crimes.

That policy must also be backed up by proper driver training and oversight, Phillips said.

Last year in Illinois, for instance, seven people died because of police pursuits: five were occupants of the chased vehicles, while two were occupants of other vehicles. None was a police-car occupant, according to administration figures.

Chase in Orlando ends in crash

According to the Orlando Sentinel, the Orlando PD was involved in a chase that ended in a crash damaging the suspects vehicle and three unmarked PD vehicles. There were no injuries.

Teague, 28, was taken into custody on the following warrants: home invasion robbery with a firearm, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, kidnapping and failure to appear in court. He faces additional charges of aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer, felony fleeing and eluding and traffic charges for this morning's chase.

Click HERE for the OS story (with video).

Just what happened in Panama City Beach?

A suspect still remains at large after a pursuit of a suspected drunk driver ended in a deadly rear-end collision, according to the Panama City News Herald.

Two of the victims sons arrived on the scene of the crash shortly after and some sort of confrontation ensued. The sons claimed a plain clothes man claiming to be a police officer, despite being told they were family members of the deceased, inappropriately assaulted the brothers and violently forced them to the ground and handcuffed them. Officers say the sons refused to identify themselves and were thus during their job in keeping the crime scene clear of outsiders.

According to the News Herald article:

[Cmdr. Michael] Moring wrote that he identified himself as a police officer and asked them who they were, but the brothers told him their identities were none of his business. Moring said he told them to identify themselves and then “physically stopped one of the unknown white males from entering the crime scene.” The second male “drew his right arm back with a balled fist as if he were about to strike me.”

A physical altercation ensued and the men, Jeff and Terry Lenz, were taken to the ground and handcuffed.

The other three officers offered similar accounts of the incident.

Watch the sons account of events:




What really took place will probably never be absolutely known. This problem just goes to show the effects of poor policy and decision making by law enforcement. A pursuit of a suspected drunk driver should never ensue, and difficult decisions soaked in tense emotions should never have to be made.

One thing is for sure, Paul Lenz in dead.

Palm Beach Post and Washington Post

Interesting article from this weekends Palm Beach Post:

In the hours following the fatal Pahokee crash, Sheriff Ric Bradshaw supported the decision to follow a stolen 1990 Toyota, saying the conditions were right. The suspect and deputies wound through the Glades in the early morning hours of Nov. 28, with no bystanders at risk.

Bradshaw noted the link between violent crime and car theft. Plus, this pursuit technically wasn't a chase, he said, given deputy Greg Fernandez's speed of 55 mph moments before crashing into his two co-workers.

Yet former Sheriff Ed Bieluch says that number is way off. At least three people close to the investigation put the impact speed at 110 to 112 mph, said Bieluch, who is considering another bid for the office. The traffic investigation remains open, and officials have not released any findings.

Bradshaw: How can this not be a chase!?! Was does "technically" mean? Does technically really matter when you have two of your officers who are now dead?

Four of every 10 pursuits end in crashes, and two of every 10 end in injuries, according to research noted on the Web site pursuitwatch.org.

A 1997 study by criminology expert Geoffrey Alpert published in the National Institute of Justice's Research In Brief found that nearly half of police agencies nationwide had modified their pursuit policies during the previous two years - and that 87 percent made their guidelines more restrictive.

Continue HERE.

Also, the Officer who was involved in a deadly pileup on the Capital Beltway last May has been indicted on two counts of vehicular manslaughter. I appeared on Countdown with Keith Olberman and the Washington Post in response to this incident. You can read a transcript of the Countdown interview HERE.

The incident began about 7 p.m. May 30, when Campbell, a seven-year veteran of the department on routine patrol, began chasing a speeding motorcycle near the Richie-Marlboro exit on the Beltway's outer loop.

Campbell's police cruiser slammed into McCarter and Clanton's sport-utility vehicle. The SUV flew over the guardrail and into traffic on the Beltway's inner loop, causing a series of crashes that closed down all lanes for almost five hours.

Continue HERE.

Billings Gazette Comments

Last week I wrote a post about the comments of Billings PD Training Officer Kathy Carson (You can catch up HERE). The Billings Gazette wrote a story about the situation (That you can read HERE).

There have been an interesting mix of responses. Some have noted the importance of ones choice of words, others have ripped me as someone just looking for press. In order to help clarify the situation, I will explain what happened from my end.

I came across the initial story and the accompanying video and was very concerned with Officer Carson's comment. I emailed her expressing my concern and my reasons why. I CC'd Chief St. John, the Billings Gazette, and the TV station that ran the story.

I got a response back from Officer Carson and below is it in its entirety:

I am sorry for your loss. I wish you could have heard the whole interview, unfortunately it was edited.

That's all. First, I asked her to apologize for her comment, not for my loss. I also asked for some sort of assurance that that is not the way she goes about her job. Apparently that is too much to ask.

Shortly after I got an email from Cheif St. John explaining that their department takes pursuits very seriously and thanking me for my concern. Basically, it was an A+ job by him.

I let the issue go and moved on thanks to the Chief's response.

A few days later a got a call from the Billings Gazette. The reporter asked if the situation had been solved. I told him it has, due to the Chief's email, not that of Officer Carson's one line response. He then told me that he did some research and found out she was involved in a pursuit with a fatality in '03. That opened it up again for me. Thus, I sent another email to Officer Carson telling her that I was not satisfied with her first response, and that the news that she was involved in a pursuit with a fatality bothered me even more.

She has yet to respond...

That is exactly what happened.

Long story short, none of this would have happened had Officer Carson taken my concerns seriously.

By the way, she has still yet to respond...

A few articles to read...

The last week has been very busy here at PursuitWatch so I haven't had the time to post as much as I would like. So before I get all the news on here, check out these two articles:

Billings Gazette article concerning the comments of Officer Kathy Carson HERE

Florida Today article about the use of helicopters in police pursuits HERE