This is truly horrific. A 23 year old man, allegedly steals a car, takes his girlfriend for spin, he’s spotted by the Police, he runs a red light, slams into another car killing three other people, a couple and their young child.
The mother of the only surviving person, (the girlfriend of the driver) says this:
“They’re to blame, they’re to blame totally, I blame the police totally,” she said.
Let’s get this right. The police gave chase because the car was stolen. The driver of the stolen car planted it because he was in a stolen car. He didn’t want to get caught.
The only person to blame here is the criminal that stole the car. Not only did he kill himself, but he also took the lives of innocent people. He did that. He clearly knew that stealing a car would have consequences, otherwise why run? The notion that you don’t give chase is just stupid. Of course you give chase, yes, back it off when it gets dangerous, but really, you break the law, expect some sort of chase.
I hate it when people die unnecessarily, even the thief doesn’t deserve to die at 23. It’s very easy to attribute blame, we want someone to blame when things go wrong, but that blame must be clearly laid at the feet of the perpetrator of the crime, not the enforcement agency. You know that makes sense. Way to often, in our shock and grief, we blame the wrong person, it’s easy and cheap.
The man stole a car, he stole it, he sped in it, he ran away from the police and he ran a red light and he killed three other people.
He did it.
Totally agreed.
Whilst my condolances extend to those affected, I find it highly unfair that blame be placed on police.
Pursuit or no pursuit, this clown has already demonstrated his intent when he first stole the car.
In my personal opinion, I believe that police should be required to engage in pursuit until the offending vehicle has been stopped.
Either way, the police still had to attend, for more unfortunate reason.
By stopping police from egaging in pursuit only encourages criminals to accelerate and hope the police give up.
At the end of the day, i really believe that failing to pull over should incur much heavier penalties/sentences.