Innocent driver killed in police chase....

[Drew]

Happened near me today.

Stolen car (mit L200) on motorway, - at least 6 cop cars chasing it, plus a police helicopter.

The cops tried to stop car, who evaded them, hit central reservation, flipped to opposite carriageway, and killed driver coming other way.



My question is, if there is a helicopter up there, why dont the cop cars pull back out of site, let the dude think he has got away, wait for him to pull over, and then send the cops in to get him? or is it because they are 'trained for high speed chases' and its like a little game to them?

Story here....
https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/newsediting/3214809.A1_reopens_following_investigation_into_tragic_crash/
and here
https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/newsediting/3217269.IPCC_happy_with_officers__conduct_as_truck_driver_revealed_to_be_from_Chester_le_Street/


obviously the police werent at fault..

[ncrn]

But if the police had backed off he could have still tanked it on to try get some distance, and then flipped it all the same?

It's unfortunate yes, but I don't think you can hold the police fully responsible. The guy who stole the vehicle killed the innocent driver, the blame should be squared fully onto him and he should be punished as such. Sadly in this country that will never happen..
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[Drew]

yes he could still be giving it some, but he wouldnt be swerving around at speed trying to avoid cop cars trying to stop him.
There was a helicopter tracking him, there was no need to try to bring him to a halt in that manner ...... IMO of course.

[map]

You only have to watch the Road Wars and Police, Camera, Action type programs to realise the cops get a rush out of the chase and actually race one another to get to the scene for fear of missing it.

In such circumstances it's hard to believe they keep a professional detached attitude.

That said, it's a sad event and will be devastating to the family and friends.

It's also a very worrying reflection on the state of motorway crash barriers. I guess the design doesn't cope with modern cars/vans/trucks.
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[Ste]

If they hadn't tried to stop him when on the motorway then if he's come off the motorway and ended up killing someone then they'd be criticised for not stopping the vehicle on the motorway.

Guess it all depends on how they tried to stop him, but doing anything whilst leaving a space between him and the crappy little crash barrier wasn't the the most sensible thing to do.

[Mac_Black]

Dare I say it; Bad Ob's on the innocent peugoet drivers' part.
Seriously I only say this as I know full well that if this was a bike crash thread someone would come along and say similar...
But honestly now who does'nt note a wall of coming towards you when its that dark (5:40AM!!!) Evasive action should have been a possibility.

Still a great shame though ofcourse, I don't want to think about whos responsible as who knows.
However I am sure that there are supposed to be pursuit precedures in place to make sure that units bacl off when chasesget heated to allow the driver some room to cool down and think...

I also hate how these 'Internal investigations' are all done and dusted so breifly, allmost asif they have just been written up in some office in a half hour just to please the public
And for my closing statement, to quote Hetz if I may: "Scum!"

[Phoenix]

[Shay HTFC]

Police are in a lose / lose situation here.
It's easy for the anti-brigade to jump on the bandwagon here, but how often do we complain if a stolen vehicle is not chased and the Police don't show an interest.

Fair enough, there is a helicopter up there, but for all we know, it could have had 15 mins of fuel left and the cars had to make a move quickly.
If the driver had been left alone, then caused a 20 car pile up through reckless driving then the question would be "Why didn't the Police stop him earlier?". A helicopter in the sky is like CCTV. It doesn't stop the crime happening, it just watches it happen. If that crime involves some maniac causing a fatal crash further down the line, then what use is a helicopter?

Sometimes a decision needs to be made. In this instance, the Police made the decision to stop the offender. 999/1000 this would have been fine and the Police congratulated. This was a horrible result, but if the same situation were to arise tomorrow, I would expect the Police to do the same.
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[cestrian]

TV shows like Police, Camera, Action tell us all too often that when the helicopter is on the scene, the police cars can back-off in the name of safety as the helicopter with its heat-sensitive equipment can track a car or a human on foot, day or night.
The natural conclusion is that the cops in the cars just wanted a chase. Thier backing off would have changed the whole scenario and the innocent person probably wouldn't be dead right now. The police made a decision which cost the life of an innocent civilian, for that they should be held accountable.

Just my opinion of course.

[ncrn]

I gotta say this thread is pissing me off a little bit. How can anyone hold the police responsible?? If the bastard who was driving hadn't stolen the car this never would have happened, there would be no ifs or buts, the guy that stole the car killed that innocent driver.

But he'll get off lightly now because its much more fun to blame the police cause they didn't get it right, totally forgetting the fact that if the prick in the car had obeyed a very simple law and not stolen a car, the innocent driver would have made it home that night.

But no its clearly the polices fault..
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[Drew]

In my opinion, the majority of car thiefs do if for the chase from the cops.
If the cop didnt chase, the thief would dump the car somewhere, and leg it (and be caught by the following helicopter)


In the situation here, the truck was stolen, driven around 20 miles south on the motorway to an industrial estate where he was spotted. It then headed back north on the same motorway........... not the actions of someone stealing the vehicle for order, but more stealing to get a chase.

he got his chase, which resulted in someone minding their own business losing their life.

[AngelGrinder]

Problem with the helicopter, is it's good a tracking people on the roads or in the outdoors, but as soon as they get out of the vehicle and enter a building you've lost the suspect....unless you have a policeman on site right behind him to see the suspect.
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[chris-red]

This was on the news, but no mention that the mit was nicked or that there was a police chase
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[thegubner]

[Catalyst]

How could anyone possibly blame the police?!

The amount of procedures they have to go to just to even start a pursuit is truly mind boggling, and on top of that they have even more if their going to attemt to stop the suspect. The police are doing their job, they have targets that they HAVE to meet each year, failure to do so can result in you losing your job.

At the end of the day if the twat had never stolen the car none of it would have happened, what if that was your car and the police said "we can't do anything till tommorow afternoon". Then there would be a thread saying "Fucking police scum! thats their job, but they don't bother looking for my car. Their all scum blah blah blah".

This forum is ridiculous sometimes, and i'm starting to get sick of all the anti-police threads.
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[chris-red]

[iooi]

Why is it the police's fault....

Only one person to blame here and thats the twat who stole the car.
The police are doing their job, and these nutters who steal OUR pride and joys deserve all they get.
I think that the police should never pull back, as it just sends a signal to these people that if they drive real bad the police will pull back and leave them alone.

I think the police should have to power to ram these people no matter what and take them out sooner. Perhaps if they started doing that and a few died as a result, maybe they would think a bit more before, nicking YOUR PROPERTY for some fun....

Sure its sad that someone else has died, but that could have happened anyway.
I know that if it was one of my faimly killed i would not be blaming the police for doing their job.
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[Finglonga]

[Drew]

[Drew]

To be perfectly honest though, if i ever had a vehicle stolen, i wouldn't want it returned to me, as it just wouldn't be the same knowing someone has been flogging it about.