Man Run Over by Police Cruiser

May 10, 2013 @ 10:37 AM by Tim Lynch

Investigators are searching for answers and members of a DeLand neighborhood are angry, all wondering how a man fleeing early Wednesday morning from a traffic stop ended up dead, run over by a police car.
Details about the incident remain sketchy. But preliminary reports indicate Marlon Brown, 38, fled from an attempted traffic stop, first in the vehicle he was driving, and then on foot.
A minute later, as Brown ran through a field, two DeLand police officers who heard the call over the radio followed in their patrol cars. Somehow, one of the police cars ended up knocking down a fence at the end of the field, and Brown ended up dead, under the car.

It all started because the man was not wearing his seat belt.

H/T: Reason

Controversial Police Shooting in Cleveland

December 4, 2012 @ 11:15 AM by Tim Lynch

13 officers fire 137 rounds and kill Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams.

Police say they fired in self-defense.

From Cleveland.com:

Russell ended up on a dead-end access road to an East Cleveland middle school, where the officers from various jurisdictions converged with the 13 Cleveland officers.
They surrounded the Malibu, and some officers were out of their cars when Russell rammed another police car, Gardner said.
Police are trained to use deadly force to stop a suspect from using a vehicle as a weapon. They opened fire.
The Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office is running gunshot-residue tests on Russell’s and Williams’ hands to determine if either fired a gun. The results should be in before week’s end.
No gun was found in Russell’s car or along the chase route. No bullet or casing was found outside the Justice Center.
Pathologists at the Medical Examiner’s Office removed 20 rounds from Russell’s body and 16 from Williams’ body. They both had additional wounds from bullets that entered and exited their bodies — Russell had 30 wounds, Williams had 20, an investigator said.

Speeding to the 2d Job

September 16, 2012 @ 9:26 PM by Tim Lynch

Unfortunately your browser does not support IFrames.

Officer Dies After Car Chase & Crash

August 22, 2012 @ 1:44 PM by Tim Lynch

From the Washington Post:

As the [police officers] caught up with the car on I-95 and relayed information about the Acura to a dispatcher, a supervisor got on the radio and questioned whether they were chasing the car, according to law enforcement officials.
That caution came too late. Morris, who was driving, lost control of the cruiser and crashed in a ravine, police said.
Morris was ejected and fatally injured, police said. Risher was hospitalized but was released the same day.
Police said Tuesday that they had not yet determined how fast Morris was driving. They said that detectives think Morris was not wearing a seat belt but that Risher was belted.
In September, Prince George’s police toughened their chase policies, limiting pursuits to suspects involved in just four crimes: homicides, shootings in which someone was hit, armed robberies and armed carjackings. By those standards, Morris seems to have violated policy and the supervisor acted appropriately, a law enforcement official said.

By all accounts, Morris was a great guy with a promising career in law enforcement. Police agencies everywhere need to reexamine chase policies for the sake of both officers and civilians.

Junk Food Theft Triggers Chase, Crash

July 11, 2012 @ 11:47 AM by Tim Lynch

From Cincinnati.com:

PLEASANT RIDGE – Potato chips, cookies, beef jerky, a couple fruit-flavored drinks, energy bars and candy – stolen goods valued at $26.29.
That alleged theft from a convenience store during the wee hours Tuesday morning touched off a police chase that ended with a carload of young girls crashing, leaving a 12-year-old girl in critical condition and hurting two others. Now criminal charges are pending against the girls, including the 16-year-old driver.
Cincinnati police internal investigators are also scrutinizing whether the officer followed proper procedures in the pursuit and in the officer’s attempt to use a Taser on the teen driver who allegedly tried to flee after the crash, police said. “They’re looking into all aspects of this incident,” said Sgt. Dennis Swingley, Cincinnati police spokesman.

Jury Awards $3.1 Million in Police Chase that Ended in Fatal Crash

June 11, 2012 @ 12:35 PM by Tim Lynch

From St.LouisToday.com:

A city jury returned a $3.1 million verdict Thursday against the village of Uplands Park for a police chase that ended in a deadly crash.
About half of the award is to compensate for the death of Lashanna Snipes, 34, who was driving her sister, two children and grandnephew to a relatives’ house to hang Christmas lights on Dec. 3, 2009, when a fleeing suspect struck her car at Goodfellow Boulevard and Martin Luther King Drive.
The rest of the judgment is for injuries others in the car received.
Snipes’ sister, Ayanna Jones, who suffered multiple pelvis fractures, was awarded $670,000. Jones’ grandson, then 5, was awarded $400,000 in damages for a broken thigh bone.
Snipes’ son, who was 7 and suffered a broken collarbone and two broken legs, was awarded $275,000. His sister, then 12, who crawled from the wreckage to watch rescue crews try to free her mother’s lifeless body, received $250,000. She received a concussion in the crash.
Each award came in near or above what the plaintiffs were seeking. But because of a state law that caps what municipalities are liable for, attorneys for Uplands Park are expected to file a motion to reduce the judgment to $378,000 for each claim.
Still, said attorney Aaron Haber, who represented Jones and her grandson: “If nothing else, it sends a message.”
Haber said the case hinged on when and whether the officers called off the pursuit as they claimed.
Volunteer police officer Lamont Aikens and Sgt. Janet Riley began pursuing their 16-year-old suspect, Derion Henderson, when he clocked at 46 mph in a 30 zone in Uplands Park. They acknowledged picking up speed down Goodfellow Boulevard, but told authorities investigating the crash that they ended the pursuit upon crossing St. Louis Avenue, more than a dozen blocks before the crash scene.
But the attorneys for Snipes and her family played dispatch tapes with the sounds of speeding cars and sirens after that. They also played a video deposition of a witness, Ronesha Jones, who said the chase went by her at nearly 80 mph several blocks later. Ronesha Jones, who is not related to the victims, called St. Louis police saying her car was hit by both vehicles.
Aikens and Riley testified this week that they were forced to resume the chase after Henderson hit Ronesha Jones’ car. Todd Muchnick, another attorney for the family, said that claim was only made after the officers learned of Jones as a witness.

And this may have had an impact on the jury.

Aikens, who was driving the police car, was a volunteer without police certification. According to testimony, the department hired him about two months before the chase, knowing he had a history of 18 arrests — including two felonies.