Ohio Officer's Pursuit Ends In Gunfire

Yesterday in Blue Ash, Ohio an officer encountered a black car driving erratically in circles and on the wrong side of the roadway. He initiated a stop to investigate and the vehicle fled.

Now this is where departments differ the most and the first of several Decision Points for supervisors. Some would authorize a pursuit at this point while others will not. Those that will pursue say the vehicle is being driven in such a manner as to constitute an immediate hazard to the safety of other drivers and must be stopped. Those who would not pursue want more information before authorizing a pursuit and justifying the increased threat to innocent citizens. Neither is wrong.

The officer reported on his radio that the suspect vehicle tried to ram him before fleeing. Decision Point 2: More agencies would allow the pursuit to begin since ramming or attempted ramming of another vehicle is an Aggravated Assault and a "Forcible Felony". While still other agencies would not count acts toward officers rather than civilians as reason to justify the pursuit. Others may want traffic conditions, weather, and several other factors to be known before giving supervisory approval to pursue.

Within two minutes of the pursuit beginning the fleeing vehicle is confirmed as a stolen vehicle. Decision Point 3: Those already pursuing would say they now have two felony crimes and the pursuit is full on. Some would now authorize the pursuit if their policy allows for the chasing of stolen vehicles. And still other agencies would say the risk is too great and tell the officer to disengage and go the other way.

No matter where you fall on the Decision Point matrix, the real pursuit ensued and the suspect finally was stopped when he was hit by a patrol car as he tried to avoid stop sticks. However, as the initial stop officers exited their cars to take the driver into custody, "the suspect accelerated towards one of them. Both officers fired at the suspects vehicle. The suspect then attempted to take off again and collided with another cruiser. A third officer approached the vehicle and was struck as the suspect accelerated. That officer fired shots as well." (FOX19 WXIX) The suspect driver was killed.

On the surface of this one it looks like a good pursuit with a tragic but avoidable ending. AVOIDABLE? Yes! At any point along this trail of decisions the most critical ones were made not by the police but by the suspect driver. IF at any point in this melee he had stopped, he would be alive today.

I have always held that Deputies and Officers don't DECIDE to shoot someone. Someone decides for us by their decisions and actions and we have to react to those decisions and actions.

The local FOX affiliate WXIX has a very good multimedia packet on the story with radio communications, dash cams, and news reports. Oh Yeah, and don't forget to feel bad for the passenger who thinks the cops shouldn't have shot at the car even though it rammed cars and the driver deliberately tried to run over officers. WAAAH!

I have attched the link below:
http://www.fox19.com/global/story.asp?s=6991408