Yahoo Autos Fatal NYPD Chase Generates Activist Backlash
Read the full story on The Auto Wire
A bicyclist is dead after an NYPD chase in Astoria, Queens resulted in the suspects in a Dodge Ram running the woman over. Now activists are calling for police to be reigned in, claiming pursuits are unnecessary and simply constitute a public safety danger.
After a PIT maneuver, Dodge Ram driver gets out while drinking a beer.
This is a situation we’ve watched play out over and over so many times with a police chase ending in a fatality or serious injuries followed by cries for cops to not be allowed to chase suspects. And we know people have strong opinions on both sides of the issue.
In this case, police were after some burglary suspects, the Ram truck matching the description of the vehicle used. We don’t know if it was just a singular burglary or multiple or even if a weapon was involved, since that doesn’t appear to be the focus of news coverage surrounding the event on October 22.
Instead, what we do know is the fleeing suspects kept going after hitting the cyclist, then ditched the pickup, running away on foot. The three men were wearing masks and zero description was included in coverage.
This is what bothers us about the coverage: little factual information is provided considering the presentation of the radical idea that no police chases is the acceptable public policy. We’ve seen crime explode in areas where law enforcement essentially have a no-pursuit policy, with the effect being that suspects know they can get away simply by fleeing or fleeing recklessly enough.
This isn’t the first time the Astoria neighborhood in Queens has seen a bicyclist killed by suspects fleeing police. A similar scenario happened in early July of this year, the cyclist who was hit ending up in the hospital in critical condition.
Unfortunately, police chases do come with risks, but so does not allowing cops to pursue suspects. Going all one way or the other seems to accentuate the worst aspects of either extreme.
Image via CBS New York/YouTube
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