POLICE CHASES--Are they necessary?

I wrote the following article in the late 1980s for a police magazine. Nothing has really changed since then.

Tracy Cooke, a grade eleven student and her mother, Theresa, both residents of Midland, Ontario, didn't have the slightest idea of what was coming up behind them when Theresa stopped her vehicle at an intersection. Unbeknown to them, a police chase was underway. The principals of that chase were, Bartley Caughey, 19, who was driving his 1962 Oldsmobile at speeds up to 130 kph (81 mph) and Constable Glenn Bannon, of the Midland Police who was following close behind.

Nearby, Constable Joseph Reynolds, 44, of the same police department, after hearing over his radio that the chase was heading down his street, pulled his police car up to the intersection and after turning on his overhead flashing lights, parked it next to a traffic island. Then he tried waving the Cooke car and two other vehicles through the intersection but no one moved. He was to later say that he didn't intend to create a roadblock because he hadn't been asked to do so but nevertheless, a roadblock is what was facing the fleeing motorist.

The fleeing 19-year-old was trapped. There was no escape. His vehicle smashed into the Cooke car and turned that vehicle into a pile of twisted steel before propelling it through the intersection. The 19-year-old's Oldsmobile's wheels partly climbed over the Cooke car and in the process, flipped over onto its roof and then slid into the intersection behind the Cooke car.

After she was extricated from the wreckage, Tracy was rushed to the hospital but she died on the way. On the other hand, the 19-year-old speeder lived to face charges of criminal negligence causing death and failing to stop for police.

Roadblocks, intentional or otherwise, are not always an effective means to stopping an escaping motorist. There is always a risk of killing the pursued or worse yet, as in the aforementioned chase, causing the death of some innocent motorist or passenger who may inadvertently be part of that roadblock. The R.C.M.P in Nova Scotia prefer to use spike belts.

Sometimes, the police are chasing bank robbers. There is a valid reason for conducting a chase in these circumstances. But it doesn't really explain away the loss of a loved one when something goes wrong. For example, in August 1983, 8-year-old Scott March of Vancouver was killed after his mother's stationwagon was struck broadside by a bank-robber’s getaway car which ran a stop sign while being pursued by the police.

Some chase disasters are horrendous. Take for example what happened when Patrice Galipeau, an armed forces private in Ste Foy, Quebec, was trying to outrun the police in September 1987. He was just about to be given a speeding ticket when he began to accelerate and attempted to run down the officer. He then ignored the red light and drove into the intersection at 100 kilometers an hour. His vehicle smashed into another (which had the right-of-way) killing four young people in the process. Galipeau suffered minor injuries. He was charged with four counts of criminal negligence causing death.

In the same month, a naked couple in Darien, Wisconsin, began firing shots at the police from their house. The couple managed to get into their van and tore down the street at a high speed with the police in hot pursuit. The driver drove down the wrong side of a nearby highway and smashed headlong into another vehicle. They lived. The woman in the other car, didn't.

Not all of these thoughtless motorists are sane. For example, in July, 1982, David Fanning, 23, had been released from a mental facility against the wishes of his pyschiatrists and in less than eight hours after he was released, he went into the parking lot of a police station and took one of the officer's private cars. Police officers began chasing the stolen car when they observed that it was being driven through a red light. By the time the chase was over, Fanning had gone through 6 more lights. He also knocked one police vehicle off the road and then to cap his illicit activity, he broadsided his stolen vehicle into the side of a smaller vehicle and killed 40-year-old Eyvonne Moore of Bolton, Ontario. And as is generally the case, Fanning walked away from the wreckage with minor injuries. For that escapade, he got a mere two years less a day in prison plus a ten-year suspension of driving privileges. The statement he gave to the police as to his reason for stealing the car in the first place? Let me quote him. "I just wanted to drive around tonight."

In December 1987, a 31-year-old man was driving a stolen late-model pickup truck at a high rate of speed on Highway 401 near Oshawa, Ontario. The Ontario Provincial Police attempted to pull him over but this driver had other plans. The chase was on and it reached speeds of 160 kilometers (100 miles) per hour before this maniac rammed two OPP cruisers, forcing one of them to cross the median and then smash head-on into an oncoming car. Fortunately, the driver of that car wasn't killed but he was in critical condition when he was taken to the hospital. The 31-year-old was apprehended soon after when his vehicle eventually stopped because of a flat tire. Naturally the 31-year-old driver wasn't injured.

It was only a few months prior to that that another highway thug, Raymond Lambert, 23, of Uxbridge, Ontario was driving a pick-up truck at a high rate of speed in almost the same area of the highway. He was signaled to pull over by the Durham police and naturally, like many other such fools, he chose to attempt to escape. It was estimated that he was doing 140 kph (88 mph) along the highway. Other police vehicles caught up to him and they created a mobile road block. When the caravan of three police cruisers and the pick-up were moving at about 120 kilometers (75 miles) per hour, he smashed into one of the vehicles and caused it to crash into the guardrail. The pick-up ended up in the ditch. The two police officers in the vehicle that smashed into the guardrail were taken to the hospital with back and shoulder injuries. Naturally, Lambert walked away from his vehicle. Aside from being charged with criminal negligence causing bodily harm, he was also charged with impaired driving.

A man who refused to stop for the police in Los Angeles in June 1985 was pursued for a short distance and when he realized that he couldn't outrun the police vehicles, he stopped his and escaped on foot. When the police looked inside his car, they discovered 50 kilos of cocaine with a street value of $30 million.

When Micheal Hughes, 40, of Scarborough, Ontario was ordered to pull over, he chose to run. He sideswiped a police cruiser, smashed into some parked vehicles, and then slammed into a hydro pole. The power outage covered a large area of the city. The damage totalled $63,000 (which incidentally he will have to pay back to his insurance company or they will have his licence revoked permanently) His reason for running? He was drunk.

In April 1985, a 15-year-old in Toronto had stolen a 1985 Camaro. It was soon after that the police spotted him and ordered him to pull over. He chose to make a run for it. By the time the 10-minute chase was over, this young punk had heavily damaged two police vehicles, not to mention the Camaro, and then completely destroyed the store fronts of two beauty salons.

Sometimes, the man fleeing has several reasons for trying to escape. For example, take the case of Joe Amaral, 17 of Toronto. This piece of bad business had stolen a motorcycle in the past and when the police spotted him on June 14th 1987, driving another stolen motorcycle; a 1100 c.c. Yamaha, the chase began. It ended 30 minutes later when he pulled into an off-ramp and after proceeding along a busy street, smashed into a cruiser at a high rate of speed. Every bone in his body was smashed and he died instantly. Aside from riding a stolen motorcycle, he was also driving while under suspension.

Brian Suzuki, 24, of Scarborough, was driving his 1100 c.c. Kawasaki when he was ordered to pull over. He chose to run. And run he did, at 110 km/h (69 mph) through 8.5 kilometers of city streets. He avoided two roadblocks and was followed close behind by three cruisers. Then his ride and his life came to an abrupt end when he smashed headlong into one of the pillars of the entrance to a cemetery. He had reason to flee. He was driving while his licence was under suspension.

It doesn't seem to bother some of these highway thugs when they are involved in chases. They don't seem to learn from the experience. Take the following two examples.

When Edward Weymouth of Toronto was ordered to pull over his car, he stuck his finger in the air in an obscene manner and then took off. He forced several cars off the road and finally gave up when he realized that he couldn't outpace the police vehicles. To say that the police were angry was an understatement. This thug was just out on bail after being arrested the day before for exactly the same thing. For this little episode in his stupid life, he got fifteen months in the slammer.

Martin Ross, a 32-year-old street racer from Newmarket, Ontario, whose speeding violations went back to 1975, decided in 1984 to race his bike down a residential street in the late afternoon with George Stewart, 24, another motorcycle speed freak. Ross was the same punk who had been convicted earlier of dangerous driving in 1977 because of a high-speed police chase. He and the other motorcyclist slammed head-on into a pickup, the impact forcing it to overturn. The collision killed a 20-year-old woman in the pickup and Stewart. Then Ross was overheard to say, and I quote, "It's not my fault that they're dead. It's better them than me." Unfortunately, he only got three years in the federal penitentiary for that piece of gross stupidity. I only mention these two cases because it seems that these highway thugs who try to outrun the police have poor driving records or develop them later on.

It is interesting to note that in practically every chase that is undertaken, the driver who is fleeing the police has good reason to flee. He is either impaired, is driving while under suspension, has just been involved in a crime, is carrying something in his vehicle that is illicit or his driving a stolen vehicle.

Now invariably, the question that comes to the mind of the police officer who is about to embark upon a chase is; "Should I or shouldn't I ?"

In Toronto, that decision isn't made by the officer on the scene. It is made by a Staff Sergeant at headquarters. The officer in the cruiser reports what the road conditions are and what the traffic situation is and why he wishes to pursue the vehicle. And then if a chase is authorized, all through the chase, he keeps the senior officer abreast of what is taking place. If the traffic for example is getting heavy, the senior officer may very well call off the chase. The senior officer will also call upon other police vehicles to take certain positions in the chase. But the decision to proceed or cease is that of the senior officer and his decision is based on the ongoing reports of the pursuit vehicles. It is much harder to pursue a vehicle in a city because of the inherent danger of hitting innocent people and as such, there is a greater chance of the chase being called off.

Many persons will argue that since the police obviously have the licence plate numbers of the offending vehicles, it is better to simply wait until the offenders return home and then arrest them there. Alas, that isn't always the best way of dealing with this kind of situation.

For example, many of the vehicles have been stolen so it follows that waiting at the home of the victim who lost his vehicle will serve no useful purpose. Many people do not notify the authorities of their changes of address when they move so the police will be waiting at outdated addresses. Further, the stolen goods in the vehicles can be disposed of before the speeders return home.

And in one most unusual case, a motorist in Toronto in 1982 was seen speeding and chased and when he arrived at his home, he was chased on foot onto his property. The officer demanded to see the speeder's driver's licence and not only did the speeder refuse to show it, he assaulted the officer and resisted arrest. He was charged with speeding, criminal negligence, resisting arrest, assaulting police and possession of a dangerous weapon. The case ended up in the Court of Appeal. He was acquitted of all charges because at the time the officer was on the private property of the man he was chasing, he was no longer in the execution of his duty. Then to top off the insult to justice, the speeder actually sued the police officer for $10,000. I don't know how that case ended but now you can understand why the police like to catch the offenders in the act. The law however does permit a police officer to force his way into a suspect's home if the officer believes that the suspect was impaired.

A question that is asked by the general public is: "Why are the police endangering our lives by chasing after offenders who have probably broken some minor traffic law?" Let's look at these cases and others to see if the chases were appropriate.

There are the two speeders on Highway 401 who were chased because they were speeding and the police later learned that one of the vehicles was stolen. As a result of those two chases, an innocent motorist and two police officers were rushed to the hospital in the crashes that followed.

Then there is the Weymouth chase. This thug was out on bail re a police chase the previous day. A quick check by radio informed the observing officer what the speeder was out on bail for. There was no way that the officer was going to let that speeder continue on speeding with impunity.

The reason is obvious. Had a police officer for example, observed Ross and Stewart racing down the residential street and stopped them, the 20-year-old woman and Stewart might be alive today. If he did nothing whatever, both Stewart and the woman will still be dead and the officer might be working in another career.

Brian Suzuki died because he chose to run. If he had lived, he may have killed a victim as a result of his speeding, just like Ross and Stewart did. A quick check on the radio showed that he was driving with a suspended licence.

Should the police have ignored Joseph Amaral when they observed him speeding and driving a stolen motorcycle. I hardly think so. Fortunately, the only one who died was bth the speeder and thief himself.

What about the 15-year-old who had stolen the Camaro? The damage was enormous but the police could hardly ignore a teenager that young driving a stolen Camero.

Some pursued drivers give up, like the man in Los Angeles. As a result, no one was killed and the police discovered $30 million in Cocaine. Had the police chosen not to pursue this man, 50 kilos of cocaine would be on the street killing drug addicts.

The Cauhey case is a sad example of how the innocent die as a result of a chase. But the police would have no choice but to chase after this punk if he had been speeding. If on the other hand, the police merely wanted to pull him over because his brake lights weren't working, then the chase was needless and the death of the girl was a useless waste of a human life.

The same would apply to Galipeau. If the officer was attempting to apprehend him while he was speeding, then the chase would be legitimate. But when that officer pursued Galipeau simply because he chose not to remain while the officer was going through the process of writing him a ticket, then the chase and the needless deaths of those four innocent victims was obscene to say the least.

And was it any less obscene in the Fanning case? You may recall that he was chased originally because he was seen going through a red light. As a result of that chase, a woman was killed in the accident that followed.

In Toronto in 1982, there were 292 authorized pursuits which yielded 558 criminal charges for offences such as impaired driving and break-ins. No amount of criminal charges can explain away the death of an innocent motorist, passenger or pedestrian in a totally satisfactorily manner but the police simply can't ignore wrongdoers simply because they choose to attempt to outrun the police.

That feeling was best summed up by Staff Sgt. Douglas Reynolds of the Metro Toronto Police Force who drafted up the force's current pursuit rules when he said, "People don't flee police for minor traffic offences and by giving chase, police help remove dangerous people from the roads."

Staff Sgt. Doug Smith of the R.C.M.P in Sackville commented about whether police should conduct a chase. He said and I quote; "You can say don't do it or you can say do it. The officer has to use his own discretion. He can put a lot of people in danger, including himself."

Those words hit home when you consider the police chase in Ontario which resulted in the deaths of the young motorist and his five teenage passengers when the motorist chose to try and outrun the police.

An alarming fact of life is that it is mostly the young males who are involved in police chases. A study conducted by the U.S.-based Insurance Institute for Highway Safety concluded that teenage male drivers, especially the 16 and 17-year-olds were found to kill more than four times as many people as teenage female drivers. The study also showed that these teenage drivers as a whole were more to blame than any other age group for highway fatalities. The Insurance Bureau of Canada has stated that statistics on Canadian auto crash fatalities are similar to the U.S. findings.

The reason for these conclusions is obvious. Teenage males are more aggressive and they are more likely to drive while impaired by alcohol or drugs.

Ontario has a law which curtails much of the driving public who otherwise would have a propensity to try to outrun the police in a chase. For first and each offence after that involving a police chase, the punishment is an automatic three-year suspension of the offender's driver's licence.

But that still leaves us with those who who drive while under suspension and therefore really don't have anything to lose by being involved in another chase. For them, the provincial law also permits six months imprisonment and a $5,000 fine.

I think that anyone who drives while under suspension for a moving offence, should have his licence revoked for ten years and if he is apprehended for driving while under suspension, he should automatically serve the two-year sentence of imprisonment as dictated by section 238 (3) of the Criminal Code and further, his vehicle, if it is his own, should be impounded and destroyed.

And I think that any motorist who tries to outrun a police vehicle, should automatically forfeit his licence for ten years and if anyone is seriously injured as a result of that chase, the forfeiture should be for twenty years and if anyone is killed, the forfeiture should be for life.

Further, I think that when such a motorist seriously injures anyone as a result of a police chase, he should go to prison for a minimum of five years and if he kills anyone, he should go to prison for a minimum of ten years, with five years being added for every additional death caused by the chase. For highway thugs like Galipeau, it would mean ten years for the first death and fifteen for the other three. Is twenty-five years in prison such a high price to pay for killing four innocent persons?

I believe that the police should continue chasing motorists whom they suspect are driving in a manner that is dangerous to other users on the road or are fleeing the scene of a crime. However, I think that when the motorist refuses to pull over and the offence is one of a minor nature, and the police don't wish to pursue the motorist more than one kilometer, the police should let the motorist go. They can catch him at his home. And if that address is a phony, remember this, when the motorist finally re-applies for his driver's licence, the police will be informed and will be there waiting for the motorist. And he should be given only a temporary licence until after his trial for attempting to outrun the police is finished. And if guilty, his suspension will begin then immediately after his trial.

In closing, I wish to add that getting killed on our highways and streets by uncaring motorists is a sad fact of life. There is very little that we can do to stop these highway psychotics from trying to outrun the police. But when they are apprehended, we should hit them hard----and I mean, HARD.