Pursuit or chase?

[Lou Girardin]

When is a pursuit not a chase?
When a Police spokesthingy says they were in pursuit of a car but it wasn't a chase.
This was referring to the Subaru that dismantled itself on a bridge abutment in Dunnydun or ChCh or somewhere, after fleeing from an EBA checkpoint.
And before all you coppers and fellow travellers get all rabid, I don't particularly care which it was, or that the dick crashed.
Just amused is all.

[bobsmith]

This is very interesting... I would love to hear the answer.

Although I'm not a fan of Pi*#, one thing I hate more is the media which suggests that criminals should not be chased/pursuited (whichever).

Perhaps, there is some difference in legal definitions?

[RantyDave]

This was referring to the Subaru that dismantled itself on a bridge abutment in Dunnydun

Yeah, ummm, didn't it dismantle it's passengers as well?

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3632725a11,00.html

But not the driver, I note.

Number one reason why speeding bikers is different from backwards hat wearers in rex's - when's the last time a bike crashed killing all four occupants?

Dave

[spudchucka]

Scenario:

Police have a check point set up and are breath testing drivers.

A white subaru approaches the check point, sees the police then stops, does a U-turn and drives off the other way.

Police staff notice the U-turning car and decide to get into a patrol car and chase after it in order to pull them over.

By the time the police get in their car and begin moving the subaru is already doing warp factor five in the other direction.

The police accelerate to catch up and activate their lights and sirens. The subaru is already around a corner and out of their view. They don't have a rego for the car or description of the driver.

The police continue around the corner, attempting to catch up and find the subaru in a mangled heap, having just hit a bridge abutment.

Was it a "pursuit"?

Was it a drunk driver attempting to avoid breath testing procedures?

Did the police play any active part in the subaru crashing?

Should the police have simply not bothered giving chase?

Would the subaru have crashed anyway?

I don't know whether this was the case in ChCh or not but its a scenario that happens whenever police do check points of any kind.

[marty]

it becomes a chase when the patrol car 'engages' the fleeing car - some form of ID can be got - car colour, rego, make etc.

although 'chase' is not used per se, it's either a pursuit or they're trying to catch up.

for those geeks who listen to the police radio, you'll hear all the time 'not calling a pursuit, just trying to catch someone who looks like they've done a runner...'

calling a pursuit more often than not involves paperwork

[Drunken Monkey]

So it's just semantics and/or technicalities then. Vietnam wasn't a war, it was a police action...

[Sniper]

Definition of pursuit: the act of pursuing in an effort to overtake or capture; "the culprit started to run and the cop took off in pursuit"

Definition of chase: go after with the intent to catch; "The policeman chased the mugger down the alley"; "the dog chased the rabbit"
pursue someone sexually or romantically.

Seems like the same thing to me, although the cop did want to do an oral test.

[enigma51]

I think in this case the car would have crashed even if a police car was chasing/pursuing behind it or not it was fleeing the roadblock while drunk feeling sorry for the family its not a nice thing to happen to them. As long as there is no hp restriction on drivers like there is on bikes this will happen again. Like the cop said in the news youngster + alcahol + high performance vehicle

[spudchucka]

Seems like the same thing to me, although the cop did want to do an oral test.

It becomes a pursuit when the fleeing driver has been signalled to stop and they fail to do so. There have been many 40kph pursuits where granddad has failed to stop because he simply didn't think that the police would want HIM to pull over. Its still a pursuit though and seems ridiculous when comms give their usual, "if there is any unjustified risk to any persons or property you are to abandon pursuit" speech.

[chickenfunkstar]

"It is believed that speed and alcohol were both factors in the crash."

Really????

[Marmoot]

Definition of pursuit: the act of pursuing in an effort to overtake or capture; "the culprit started to run and the cop took off in pursuit"

Definition of chase: go after with the intent to catch; "The policeman chased the mugger down the alley"; "the dog chased the rabbit"
pursue someone sexually or romantically.

Seems like the same thing to me, although the cop did want to do an oral test.

Damn...u beat me to Google.

Yes, I don't believe the police was pursuing the car sexually or romantically, so it cannot be a chase

[scumdog]

It becomes a pursuit when the fleeing driver has been signalled to stop and they fail to do so. There have been many 40kph pursuits where granddad has failed to stop because he simply didn't think that the police would want HIM to pull over. Its still a pursuit though and seems ridiculous when comms give their usual, "if there is any unjustified risk to any persons or property you are to abandon pursuit" speech.

Have a few of them, got a bit of a when I responded to the "if there is any unjustified risk yadda yadda yadda" I replied "the only risk is me falling asleep if I have to keep driving at this speed" - we were screaming along at 35-40kph at the time.

One otherwise fairly law abiding driver driver had to be 'moving blocked' to get them to stop after 21km!!! (AND attemted to drive around it too!) their response? "Oh, I never realised you wanted me to stop!"

That Dunedin driver is a dick!!
(And sadly a lot of older driver seem to think "the young ones seem to have got the message compared to the oldies, they know not to drink and drive")
Yeah Right!!

[speedpro]

Some sort of guided missile would be the go. You do a runner, to protect innocent public the cops let you have it, EXCELLENT.

[scumdog]

Some sort of guided missile would be the go. You do a runner, to protect innocent public the cops let you have it, EXCELLENT.
.

Bit tough to do in this case as the car was not in sight of the patrol car giving chase and it did not have a description of the car they were after.

[Lou Girardin]

That's the one Spud.
Wouldn't it have been better to say, "Police at the scene pursued the vehicle from some distance behind , but lost sight of it just before the crash"?
It sounds a lot better than "the Police were pursuing it but weren't in a chase".