Chelsea pedestrian struck, killed by police cruiser

Rarely may be good enough for you. I can think of two people who died as a result of high speed chase on city streets, where the officer could not control the vehicle and killed a bystander. That doesn;t include the cop who hit the baby carriage (the baby survived). In the first case, a woman in her own car died. This time it was a man on foot.

This man was not a suspect. He was an innocent bystander who was unable to get out of the way of a speeding police car. A police SUV that the officer could not sufficiently control in order to avoid the lethal collision.

High speed chases are not a concept. They are a reality. Two innocent bystanders have lost their lives as a result.

Who will argue the lives of innocent bystanders amounts to reasonable collateral damage? If one of them was a sibling or parent? If it was you?

What's the over/under on whether DA Conley puts the officer back behind the wheel with nothing more that a course in hot pursuit inside city limits? I'm sure the guy feels awful. It should never have happened.

Expensive Helicopters or "disasters" from Massachusetts Police chases?

There aren't really any statistics either way since a "chase" is hard to define. Even this case here wasn't a "chase". It was a cruiser heading to a location at what I assume was a high speed with or without lights and sirens.

These "chases" or fast police responses happen a few thousand times a year in Massachusetts. Very few of those "tend" to end up in disaster but some do.

I've been a part of dozens and have seen only a few people end up with minor injuries. Knowing that with the fact many other cities and towns have similar chases, combined with the fact that any "disaster" I am going to hear about on the news is rare, I am going to form my educated opinion that "disasters" are rare after police "chases".

That does not mean they are or are not dangerous.

happened in 2007, when State Police very unwisely chased someone off Route 16 in Everett into a grid of quite narrow residential streets behind Ball Square in Somerville. There's no way that could end any way but tragically, and that's exactly what occurred. A totally innocent taxicab driver died there as a result.

Here's a long discussion that started with 'what was that noise outside my window?' and continued for several days thereafter.

I think Pete has enough strawmen here to protect a good size cornfield against crows.

Many cities have modified their chase policies because high speed pursuits endanger lives and cause "accidents". These aren't always the result of officer negligence but the result of high speeds and urban street systems. The basic reasoning is that criminals are bad, but chases that kill people can put the community at much higher risk than letting the perp go and picking him up later.

So, while it wouldn't be very productive to fire officers involved unless there was gross negligence or misjudgment, that doesn't get police off the hook for the consequences of playing dirty harry. Policies should reflect risks and the COMMUNITY should have something to say about those risks and what level of risk is acceptable. The "We are TEH COPZ and you don't UNDERSTAND that we are protecting you you ungrateful fools" defense of high speed chases in urban areas is bullcrap in its entirety. These are decisions to be made by both police AND the communities they work for.

where I could kill someone on the job and not get fired. I had a driving job once, and I can say with 100% certainty that if I accidentally killed someone with the company vehicle, even if he jumped right out in front of it and I was not charged with any violation, I would be done. Of course, it was also a job where I could be fired for no reason at all- you know, what they call "at will". It just seems strange to me.

"When you hear a siren, you should move out of the way." It's heartbreaking to hear the cop say this; I can almost hear his pain at having hit this guy. What a terrible situation.

But... man, what if the dude was deaf? Or blind, or both? Everybody has a right to use our streets. And the cars have got to look out for the pedestrians and bicycles. Even well-meaning cops trying to get to where they have to be to do their job. Because their job is to protect people, all the time. Usually when I see ambulances and fire trucks and cop cars drive by, I see them slow the heck down at intersections until they can be really, really sure nothing is going on that they can't see until the last minute. That's the kind of care I really hope all emergency responders exercise.

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