POLICE CHIEF THANKS UTAH NURSE FOR STANDING FIRM

[tblue37]

19. The cops were hoping to find drugs or alcohol in the INNOCENT VICTIM'S blood,

because they might be able to use that to reduce their liability for the accident that injured him and killed the guy they were chasing.

I would also like to know what the guy they were chasing was suspected of. If it was a traffic violation or something that did not rise to a life or death level, then there was no excuse for conducting a high speed chase in traffic. A friend of my son's died at age 18 in 1998 because he was pursued at high speeds through residential areas at 2:00 a.m.

The cops had no probable cause for going after him in the first place. He was just dropping a friend off at his apartment after a night spent celebrating the friend's 20th birthday. But the 20-year-old friend and the 18-year-old driver both had been drinking beer, and there was a 6-pack in the car. The driver was afraid of getting an MIP, so when the cops, who were in the parking lot of the apartment complex, flashed their lights at him, he panicked and drove away with the other boy still in the car, instead of dropping him off.

The cops turned on their siren and went after him, even though as far as they knew, he had done nothing in the first place except for pulling into the parking lot of an apartment building to drop someone off. They were just fishing for something when they flashed their lights, but when he drove away--initially at a normal speed--that gave them an excuse to pursue him.

He crested a hill--again, in a residential area--at speeds well over 100mph, went airborne, and knocked over a traffic sign before wrapping his car around a tree and breaking his neck. He died on impact, and the other boy, who thank goodness was wearing a seatbelt, ended up with dozens of stitches. My son, who was the passenger's roommate but had skipped the birthday celebration because he was studying for an exam, was called to the hospital, and he called me to go with him because he was too shaken to drive.

I saw the car the next day. It was crumpled like a piece of paper. If my son had been with them he would certainly have been killed, too, even though he would have worn a seatbelt, because he would have been sitting behind the driver, and that part of the car was completely crushed.

There was no excuse for the cops to conduct a high speed chase through town that night. Yes, the boys were guilty of underage drinking, and yes, the driver probably had a BAC higher than legally allowed. It was stupid and wrong for him to be driving after drinking. But he did not deserve to die for it, and I still get rather freaked out when I think of how easily my son could have been killed in that crash if he had been a little less focused on acing the test he had coming up that Monday.

Cops get all excited when they start chasing someone. It's an adrenaline high, and some look for excuses to give chase. Justifications for high speed chases should be strictly limited to life and death circumstances, but unfortunately they often are conducted for ridiculous reasons.