Two innocent people killed in police chase

[davereid]

From http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/ar...ectid=10669184

Two innocent people were killed last night after a car involved in a police chase collided head-on with another vehicle.

The pair - a man, 73, and an elderly woman - were in the car struck by the vehicle, which ran a red light as its driver tried to evade police.

The fleeing driver, thought to be in his 20s, suffered moderate injuries in the smash on one of Christchurch's most notorious street-racing roads.

"Blame for this tragedy lies entirely with this driver," Inspector Malcolm Johnston said.

"He was signalled to stop and he should have stopped.

"He is a disqualified driver and well known to Christchurch police. He could have killed anyone at any stage. I have spoken with the officers involved and they are devastated."

At the scene, North Canterbury police district commander Inspector David Lawry told the Herald: "It's a tragedy for those involved and the families of the deceased."


The chase started after the man's car was clocked at 89km/h on Ferry Rd just after 8pm.

Despite initially slowing down for police, the driver took off and ran the red light at the intersection of Fitzgerald Ave and Gloucester St.

"A person in a vehicle failed to stop" said Mr Lawry. "There was a period of about 30 seconds between police engaging in a pursuit and the crash occurring. The car was not warranted or registered."

The patrol car appeared to be quite a long way behind the other vehicle when it crashed, Mr Lawry said.

Mr Johnston: "Police were duty bound to stop this driver. Travelling at nearly 90km/h along Ferry Rd is a recipe for disaster."

Police make about 2000 pursuits a year, and one in four ends in a crash.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~

There is no doubt that primary responsibility for this crash lies with the driver who fled.

But three things stand out.

The first is that police knew who he was.
The second is, that he was already disqualified but chose to drive anyway.
And the third is that he was doing 90 in a 50 zone before the chase started.

What the hell are we going to do about these morons ?

[Bald Eagle]

Locking them up and throwing away the key would be nice , but very expensive, and unlikely given the propensity for using wet bus tickets displayed by our Judiciary.

A bullet would be more cost effective and no risk of re-offending then.

[scott411]

i think the headline should be

"Two innocent people get killed by Fleeing Driver"

the driver of the car is responsible, not the police who were trying to stop him,

i feel blaming the police for this is like the police trying to blame a speeding motorist for causing them to do a u-turn in front of another vehicle,

[boman]

I have said it before, and will probably say it again.

Rule .303. He won't do it again, and it saves the tax payer a fortune in rehab and care whilst he is locked up.

I will donate the bullet.

[red mermaid]

On the 3 points noted, and in particular that they knew who the driver was.

Nowhere in the media piece does it say that this was known at the time of the pursuit. It is highly likely it was found out after the crash as the POS was laying in his damaged car.

[onearmedbandit]

Locking them up and throwing away the key would be nice , but very expensive, and unlikely given the propensity for using wet bus tickets displayed by our Judiciary.

A bullet would be more cost effective and no risk of re-offending then.

I have said it before, and will probably say it again.

Rule .303. He won't do it again, and it saves the tax payer a fortune in rehab and care whilst he is locked up.

I will donate the bullet.

Both of these options are kind of like slamming the gate shut after the horse has bolted. I'm not saying that I know what the answer is to stopping this shit from happening, or if it's even possible, but it's plainly obvious regardless of the consequences some people are still willing to run.

[Bikemad]

now lets all pay for the fuckwit to receive counselling and victim support and free health care and legal aid and every other consideration known to man cause he comes from a broken home and his mummy and daddy didnt love him or some such shit...............303 gets my vote

[Gone Burger]

i think the headline should be

"Two innocent people get killed by Fleeing Driver"

the driver of the car is responsible, not the police who were trying to stop him,

i feel blaming the police for this is like the police trying to blame a speeding motorist for causing them to do a u-turn in front of another vehicle,

I actually agree. What are the Police supposed to do? Let every driver that they think is a risk get away every time without even attemting to pull them over? THEN how many accidents would there be? Its a tragic outcome indeed, but once again, if the driver hadn't fled police the outcome may have been different.

[Grasshopperus]

If I lived in Chch I'd go down to that hospital and yell obscenities at him right now.

[Marknz]

The media need to be taken to task over this one, and all the other reporting they get wrong.

[Forest]

The car was not warranted, not registered, and driven by an disqualified driver.

I don't think that the answer to this situation is to impose more laws - the laws we currently have did not stop this scrote from getting in his car and killing two innocent bystanders.

If it was up to me, I'd simply disconnect all the machines in the intensive care ward and let nature take care of things. But I'd settle for manslaughter charges.

[avgas]

Cut of his right foot - just above the ankle.
The accelerator will be the least of his problems.

[BoristheBiter]

From http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/ar...ectid=10669184

Two innocent people were killed last night after a car involved in a police chase collided head-on with another vehicle.

The pair - a man, 73, and an elderly woman - were in the car struck by the vehicle, which ran a red light as its driver tried to evade police.

The fleeing driver, thought to be in his 20s, suffered moderate injuries in the smash on one of Christchurch's most notorious street-racing roads.

"Blame for this tragedy lies entirely with this driver," Inspector Malcolm Johnston said.

"He was signalled to stop and he should have stopped.

"He is a disqualified driver and well known to Christchurch police. He could have killed anyone at any stage. I have spoken with the officers involved and they are devastated."

At the scene, North Canterbury police district commander Inspector David Lawry told the Herald: "It's a tragedy for those involved and the families of the deceased."


The chase started after the man's car was clocked at 89km/h on Ferry Rd just after 8pm.

Despite initially slowing down for police, the driver took off and ran the red light at the intersection of Fitzgerald Ave and Gloucester St.

"A person in a vehicle failed to stop" said Mr Lawry. "There was a period of about 30 seconds between police engaging in a pursuit and the crash occurring. The car was not warranted or registered."

The patrol car appeared to be quite a long way behind the other vehicle when it crashed, Mr Lawry said.

Mr Johnston: "Police were duty bound to stop this driver. Travelling at nearly 90km/h along Ferry Rd is a recipe for disaster."

Police make about 2000 pursuits a year, and one in four ends in a crash.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~

There is no doubt that primary responsibility for this crash lies with the driver who fled.

But three things stand out.

The first is that police knew who he was.
The second is, that he was already disqualified but chose to drive anyway.
And the third is that he was doing 90 in a 50 zone before the chase started.

What the hell are we going to do about these morons ?

three things that stand out about your post.
1) the only responsibility lies with the driver.
2) they did't know who he was till after he crashed, they only knew the car.
3) you just like bagging cops with a side order of troll.

[Clockwork]

Apparently this bring the total deaths attributed to "fleeing" drivers to 13 this year.

I've said it before in another thread but I think the root of the problem stems from the penalties and powers given to the Police by politicians to "make our roads safer". In doing so the Government "upped the Ante" and made flight a more likely outcome.

I'm not blaming the Police, I believe that they are in a no-win situation.

[boman]

Cut of his right foot - just above the ankle.
The accelerator will be the least of his problems.

Cut his foot off just below the neck. No more drain on society.