A driver being pursued in a high speed chase only stops when he crashes, or his vehicle is no longer drivable. They generally are desperate (duh/ with open warrants, suspended licenses, alcohol and drugs on board. A study done after a very tragic crash on Speer Blvd., a major east-west inner city connector in Denver, found no justification for the police forcing the 90-120 mph chase, nor any excuse for the members of a family who were killed because they couldn't get out of the way, at an intersection. This process has been repeated over and over across the country, yet testosterone fueled, lead footed police officers just don't get it and department regulations give very little assistance and training to add a measure of safety to the procedure.
Look at how LA handles such a situation, slow speed, helicopter overhead, no bad guys and cops driving rocketing steel cocoons into packed streets. Yet, they catch the bad guys, SAFELY Utah always learns it the hard way with city planning, police operations and accountability (lack of).

A perfect candidate for three strikes. Now need to go after his family's assets to pay for all the damages to persons and property during his apprehension.

absolutly HORRIBLE!

@ SJ

You obviously don't watch enough day-time cable news. It seems like there is a car chase in LA almost once a week and they are usually very fast. The chases often end when the car is either disabled by officers or hits another car or two at some intersection where cars are stuck at a stop light and cannot get out of the way when they hear sirens. Not to mention how many times I have seen the driver end up dragged out by dogs or shot.

I say go ahead and pursue if, while in the situation, you feel it appropriate. As long as the departments provide adequate training, I will always give the benefit of any doubt to the officers.

Of course there is cause for concern. However, this incident is a success, not a failure, for Utah. The only person killed or seriously injured was the criminal himself. It's sad for his family, but he chose this when he fled from police.

I would rather have a dangerous chase once in a while than to have the more dangerous situation of criminals who think they have the right to run from the law. Banning the high-speed chase would encourage lawlessness. L.A.-style slow-speed chases rarely catch criminals, O.J. Simpson being a rare but very visible exception.

I do feel bad for the deputy who was injured, and I hope he recovers quickly.

Good job! The fact that the man died saves the taxpayers the cost of a trial.

No matter what law enforcement officers do it is wrong to some and right to others.

I feel they did a great job.
Thanks officers and deputies!!!!

The problem is that everyone from the speeder to the murderer now believes all he has to do is run and the cops will stop chasing most of the time. I believe we have actually seen a rise in the number of people who run in the last few years. The ones who get caught know that there will be no consequences for having run. The normal sentence (in Utah County at least) is one year CONCURRANT with the criminals other charges. So what is the incentive not to run? With more people running (admittedly shorter distances) until they are sure the cops have stopped chasing I think we may have actually increased the risks to the public by the new policies. The best improvement right now would be for the judges to start punishing those who run severly. If the judges wont do it, maybe the legislature needs to apply manditory sentences.

For SJ: what Utah politicians are going to raise taxes to provide police helicopters even in the larger Utah cities?

If the police chase the suspect the community is upset, if they don't chase the suspect the community is still upset. Nobody is going to be happy. I think we need to leave it up to the police to make the decision.

If high speed chases were totally banned, we would have A LOT of nuts out there running from the police to avoid getting caught for whatever they may have done. No thanks...

OK, so now we blame the police because of the chase. Let's go all the way with this ridiculous reasoning and blame the store clerk who got robbed; the abuse victim; the family who got in the way of the drunk driver. The job of the police is to catch the bad guy! To do it, sometimes you have to give chase! "Testosterone-fueled", "lead-footed" officers? How about the bad guy? Wasn't he the one who ran? Parley's Canyon is a whole lot different than Speer Blvd in Denver, with lots less traffic. Way to misapply the principle, dude!

SJ Bobkin - Your first post was right on! I don't believe that risking the life of even one innocent citizen, justifies a hi-speed chase. Eventually, these kinds of people are caught. You cannot rob justice for very long. In my opinion, the first job of our police officers is to "protect" the the general public. I wonder if the officers in pursuit knew personnaly, the innocent people affected, would they take the risk?

So, let's see. When criminals speed off we just let them go. Well by golly - that's some good thinking there! I think the estrogen approach to crime sounds very effective indeed.

And maybe if we don't chase them they'll be especially nice, and they won't run in the first place.

Hey, maybe if we don't have prisons they won't have a reason to run, and they'll just turn themselves in too!

Thanks for resolving all this testosterone nonsense!

We recently had a car chase end in our neighborhood. A guy stole a car and the police tried to pull him over and chased him from Provo to Spanish Fork. He ended up turning onto Highway 6, and then into a residential neighborhood--almost hitting 3 kids. He almost ran into a suburban full of children. Then, he realized he was trapped and jumped out of his car sending it over the curb, nearly hitting another child.

And I have the same question--should the cops have pursued the chase? I don't think all those lives were worth it--especially since it could have been my child at risk. Criminals like him are always in and out of prison--if the cops didn't get him then they would have caught him sooner or later, right?

I think we should vastly increase penalties for running from the police. These jokers are unnecessarily jeopardizing the lives and welfare of innocent bystanders. Let's fine them severely, put them in jail until they exhibit maturity, and keep them from driving for, say, five years.

Going to court
If you are not guilty, You will be and serve jail time
There is no Constitutional rights in Utah Courts
Notice
There is a forever growing crime
More reason to run
Thy being innocent and charged with a Felony that did not happen
Box Elder County

Something is wrong with this picture! Since when do the cops look for and chase someone when they get a call for suspected fraud? These kind of calls just get added to the pile for some fraud detective to follow up on later. If suspected fraud was something the cops acted on immediately they wouldn't have time to do anything else. There would be a massive amount of chases going on all the time. After all, Utah is the Fraud capitol of the country!!

haha...utah is the fraud capital of the country. So much for their all of their compassion - its like Karma - they are nice to everyone else - and everyone takes advantage of them. Isn't there a church leader of yours that says something about this? My approach is to be skeptical of everyone - don't trust anyone, except a very few. Just believe that everyone lies and deceives to get what they want. If you say no, you are naieve and very oblivious. That is a true statement.

Otherwise, congratulations officers on not giving up! Go after everyone with extreme prejudice, because that's what the cops job is right?

WE were one of the last cars to make it past this in the the eastbound lanes of I-80. We slammed on the brakes and stopped 1 car length short of the tire shredder chains on the road. A nurse in a car that had stopped on the shoulder when the sirens came up behind her came within feet of being rear ended by the suspect when he lost control of his car at 100 mph. I'm glad it ended with no one else being seriously hurt and that the deputy's injuries were minor, but I can't help wondering what would have happened if we had not been able to stop and ran over those tire shredders or had been hit by the semi behind us.

Reno PD was one of the first cities in the country to ban all pursuits except for chasing a person who had committed a violent felony... not just somebody the police thought might have committed one. There were all the arguments then regarding the probability that everybody would run from the police if they could not chase. Guess what the results of an exhausted study on the matter after pursuits were banned? It turns out that no more offenders ran from the police after the ban than before. Law enforcement agencies all over the country have limited pursuits with the same outcome. Add that to the fact that 5% of all pursuits end in a serious injury or fatality. And half of those injuries and deaths are to the officers themselves. Finally consider the various types of cars on the road. It is no contest when a truck or heavy sedan hits a compact. If the compact is carrying my wife or your son, you too would want the police to reconsider the pursuit. Except for chasing a known violent felon, I say end pursuits now. And I am not making the part up about my being a cop.

Ok then, the police should not chase criminals. By that same logic, war should not be fought to end slavery, genocide, or concentration camps. Why don't you all just go vote for Obama, then the only crime will to be rich (unless you are a Democrat).

I say go for the chase. These criminals have it in their mind that they can get away with all their criminal activities. Then no one arrested can be released until they go to trial and no lienent catch and release policies. This is why so many criminals are making Utah their home, no jail time, no fines, no repercusions. Getting caught is merely an inconvience to the hardened criminals. We need hard judges giving hard time in jail with full sentencing. The state DUI law includes drug use while driving but there has yet to be anyone convicted of drug use DUI's. But for chasing, the police are obligated to get these guys as leaving them on the road only insures another chase later on. We can't have laws and no enforcement or penalties, it does send the wrong message. They should have been shooting at the guy and his vehicle as soon as he fled, it's justified. The police need our support not criticism to apprehend and even shoot to kill these criminals. Death is the best deterent to crime and we need more of it if we want a civilized and safe street in our neighborhoods.

There's a brand new invention called radio. I think the Utah cops might be able to put them in their cars. They could 'radio' other cops, keep track and eventually apprehend the bad guys without endangering hundreds of innocent people. The place for machismo is television wrestling, not law enforcement.

You mean to tell me anyone can report fraud on me and that that's just cause for the police to follow and pull me over over in a high speed chase? What happened to innocent until proven guilty in a court of law?

your not a smart person. If your not guilty why would you be involved in a high speed chase? Pull over if you have nothing to hide. What color is the sky in your world.

I see you've got a nice Old-Testament approach: kill 'em all. So the cops should have started shooting in the middle of traffic in Parleys? Any innocent people who are injured just have to understand that their injuries and deaths were necessary? No point in determining if the fugitive was suffering a mental illness or was a petty crook making a bad decision to flee. Just kill 'em.

What a pride you are to your community, Bob. Or did you shoot them for not mowing their lawns right?

You offered this criticism: "your not a smart person". Perhaps you should have said "You're not a smart person". If you are accusing someone else of stupidity, it's best not to leave yourself open.

Stinky, what a mooron. What if he had had hit and killed one of your own. I my be wrong but I think you may feel diffrent.

The police didn't start the chase...the man ran from a legitimate authority asking him to pull over. When anyone runs from the police, it's calling "eluding" and is a crime by itself. Please stop second-guessing here....this man paid for his crime in a particularly bad way.

Hey Bret, moron isn't spelled 'mooron'. If you call me a name, please spell it correctly. Thanks.

I'd be upset if anyone killed a relative, whether it was the person fleeing, one of the police chasing or some other innocent person simply trying to get out of the way. As 'Old Cop' indicated above, in may cases the pursuit policy causes deaths that wouldn't have happened otherwise.

I challenge anyone to make a perfect decision in a 30 minute time frame that will satisfy everyone. The past cannot be changed, but lessons can be learned and hopefully positive changes made.

Do you think that the reason that criminal turned into the neighborhood and intentionally put those children at risk was entirely due to citizens with opinions like yours? The more risk a criminal can create for bystanders, the greater the likelyhood that the cops will call off the chase. I hope if you are that offended by what happened that you have contacted the county attorney and plan to address the judge at the criminals sentencing. You should be demanding the maximum sentence for him. Anything else would be hypocritical of you. By the way, I live in that neighborhood too and I am happy that the Sheriff's deputy did his job and caught the guy. My children were no less at risk than yours, I just know who is responsible for ithe risk and it isn't the cop.

We had a police chase in our area. Both were armed and shots were fired. I don't think they out doing their laundry. These people don't want to get caught no matter where that are at. There is no Win-Win here.