EVADING ARREST BY FLEEING IN A CAR SHOULD BE MADE A FELONY

From Fox News.com, here are excerpts from two recent stories concerning police car chases:

5 Alabama Police Officers Fired for Beating Suspect on Tape
May 20, 2009

Five Birmingham (Alabama) police officers were fired Wednesday for beating an unconscious suspect ejected from a car after a chase, an attack captured on a patrol car videotape that didn't surface publicly for a year.

Police Chief A.C. Roper said the officers, who were not identified, were seasoned veterans but acted in a "shameful" manner.

The video shows police pursuing Anthony Warren's van on Jan. 23, 2008. One officer on foot was hurt when the van swerved through traffic. It overturned on a ramp, ejecting Warren, who lay motionless as officers ran toward him. The video shows them beating him with their fists, feet and a billy club.

California Police Launch Investigation After Officer Allegedly Kicks Suspect in Head After Chase
May 14, 2009

Police in El Monte, Calif., are conducting an internal investigation after TV cameras caught an officer apparently kick a suspect in the head following a high-speed car chase Wednesday afternoon.

El Monte Assistant Chief Steve Schuster said the investigation was sparked by phone calls by people who saw the kick in live footage taken from above in by helicopter. The suspect appeared to have surrendered and was lying face down on the ground when he was kicked.

A foot pursuit followed the high-speed car chase that lasted more than 30 minutes and saw the suspect lead a chaotic drive through El Monte, Whittier and other parts of eastern Los Angeles County.

The suspect who was kicked had fled on foot behind a nearby apartment complex.
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High speed police chases are controversial and extremely dangerous. Innocent citizens have been killed and injured when struck by the fleeing driver. Officers have also been injured, and in some instances, killed during police pursuits.

By the time such chases end, the pursuing officers are pretty well steamed up. Having seen the fleeing driver narrowly miss deadly collisions with other cars or, in many instances, bounce off of other cars, many officers are ready for some serious ass kicking when they finallly apprehend him.

Let me relate a personal experience. The college that employed me required that each year every faculty member had to show they had been continuing their "professional development." While most of the faculty chose to take additional course work, I chose to return to my old California stomping grounds during the summer breaks and work with various police agencies in order to keep up with the latest evolving law enforcement techniques.

One summer, when I was working with the Riverside Sheriff’s narcotics unit, the officer I was working with and I were returning to Riverside from Hemet where we had just seized some marijuana plants. The police radio dispatcher was coordinating a multi-agency high speed chase of a driver and his girlfriend who had fled from a courthouse with his three young children after losing a custody battle with his ex-wife.

Several police agencies joined in the high speed chase. Since we were close at hand, we decided to join in the chase, admittedly out of curiosity. When we entered the east bound lanes of Highway 60 near Moreno Valley, we were about the fifth or sixth car in line of the other pursuing police cars. Hwy. 60 was a four-lane road divided by a very wide grassy median. Finally, three police cars were able to box-in the fleeing driver, forcing him to come to a stop in the median.

As officers exited their cars to arrest the driver, he turned his wheels sharply to the left and sped off across the median to enter the west bound lanes of Hwy. 60 which is one of the main arteries connecting Riverside to Interstate 10. As he got on the pavement, a number of cars, trying to avoid a collision, were forced off the road, both to the right side and into the median, some colliding with each other.

When the police finally caught up to the fleeing driver again, they forced him off the right side of the road. When he stopped, several officers jerked him out of his car, took him to the back of the car, and beat the supreme shit out of him. The officer I was with exclaimed, "Oh shit, lets get out of here!"

In the classroom, I have always taught my students that police officers must keep their cool and avoid the use of what may be perceived as "excessive force." But to be honest with you, seeing those officers kick the shit out of that driver sure made me feel good! He had not only risked the lives of countless other motorists, but the lives of his three little children as well.

There are those sandbox generals and bathtub admirals who say that the police should not chase any drivers at all except for exigent circumstances. But that ignores the nature of the beast. In the game of cops and robbers, which all cops and crooks play, officers instinctively pursue those who attempt to avoid apprehension. As a result, tempers flare, fleeing drivers get beat up, and cops get fired.

When a driver attempts to evade arrest, he turns his automobile into a deadly weapon. A person who points a gun at another is committing a felony – aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. And that is exactly what a fleeing driver is doing. The time is way past due for a change in our laws. Evading arrest by fleeing in a car should not be treated as a misdemeanor - it should be made a felony the same way that pointing a gun at someone is a felony.