Last weekend another high speed police chase in Toronto ended with deaths. All of the dead were under 18, two in a cab that were hit by the suspect, who also died in the crash.
Right now the families are grieving and the Toronto Police are under the microscope for the how and why of the chase. The essential facts are that the chase lasted less than a minute and the cop had barely even turned around to pursue the suspect vehicle. The suspect saw the cop turning around and nailed the accelerator right into the path of two cabs. 60 miles per hour is 88 feet per second: There are other calculations, like mass and velocity and so on. End point? Three dead, two of which just happened to be in the wrong place, in the wrong cab at the wrong time.
Toronto Police have very strong procedures regarding pursuit. The officer must obey all commands of the incident commander at HQ. If things are getting silly and dangerous the pursuit must be broken off. Helicopters can be used. Other cruisers can be positioned to intercept the suspect. The police, as best I can tell from reports in the local media, did exactly what they should have done. Saw a suspect speeding, turned around, hit the lights and went after the suspect. The cruiser hadn’t even started getting near the speed limit when the collision happened.
The suspect didn’t do what he should have: Pull over and take his spanking. He matted the gas and tried to outrun the cops. Seconds later the collision ocurred when the suspect’s driving ability was exceeded by his velocity and the inverse of his IQ. Three dead in a very sudden, violent way.
There are hundreds of unanswered questions. Was the suspect driving dirty, meaning carrying substances or devices that would get him jail time? Was the suspect under the influence of things that would have clouded his decision-making ability? Was the car stolen? Was the suspect wanted for other things? This will eventually come out, but right now, media is focusing on the cops.
Police forces know that pursuits at high speed invariably end badly, despite what you might see on "America’s Wildest Police Chases Part 5" It doesn’t work that way in the real world. Most often it is some innocent passerby who gets killed.
Police, at least in Canada, take pursuit driving courses and are, as a group of people, very good high-speed drivers. The command oversight is extensive, the default being break off the pursuit. Unless the target car is being driven by an armed and crazy known perpetrator who just raped a nun and kidnapped a grade 7 class of special ed kids, while brandishing several guns, a sword and expired sour cream, that kind of criminal, they would and should, chase.
The rest, the police will most often break off. Remember, cops have radios and guns, with which they can get more cops with more guns and more radios. The bad guys also know that the police have helicopters and ways to track the bad guys that don’t require high speed pursuit.
Where things go bad is when the lights and siren go on. I’ve seen it too many times for it to even be entertaining. People freeze up and lose their minds. A street near where I live is a regular route where ambulance and fire equipment come up on traffic, with the emergency equipment on full lights and siren. Drivers stop dead in their tracks, or turn on their four-way flashers, or stare at their rearview mirror.
A significant percentage are blissfully unaware that an emergency vehicle needs to get by them and are perplexed by the bright and shiny things they see. They might consider turning down their tunes or might not talk on their cellphones for a second or two. You can even see some ask the person on the other end of the cellphone what they should do.
As a public service for those too dumb to live, here’s what you do when a vehicle with blinking red and or blue lights and some kind of loud siren comes up behind you: Pull as far to the right as you can safely and stop until the emergency vehicle is past you. Use your right turn signal, as other drivers might be too stupid to live as well. The right turn signal is usually near the steering wheel.
If the emergency vehicle is a fire engine, keep your wits about you, as there is usually more than one coming. Use your rear view mirror to look behind your car, not as a makeup and grooming aid and you might spot another fire engine or an ambulance wanting to get by you. You don’t have to call someone to tell them that you were just passed by an ambulance or a fire engine or the police: This is a normal occurrence in a city.
If you are a bad guy, please stop if the police want to talk with you. You can’t outrun them and you can’t hide. They have your ass and it is going to jail. If you feel duty-bound to shoot it out with the cops so you can be on the news, have the courtesy to stop, as very few cellphone video cameras get good pictures when shaking and bouncing around in a moving car.
We need a few seconds to get good, clear, saleable video footage of you screaming and yelling threats. If you must scream and yell while brandishing a gun, do use a clear voice. If there are obscure references to your Grade 6 shop teacher and/or religious political positions you feel you need to take, ensure that the references are short, concise and will make good captions or headlines.
A nice final touch before you die in a hail of bullets, is to scream "Rosebud!" or another equally obscure cultural reference. However, if you decide to extend your demise by taking hostages and engaging in a long stand-off with the police, could you schedule your rantings with a ten minute break each hour please?
Occasionally the amateur media does need to take a pee, or get another coffee and we don’t want to miss anything.
RoadDave 