Highway patrol's chase policy is looser than city's, county's
BY TIM POTTER
When a state trooper chased a speeding motorist early Nov. 15 onto East 21st Street, resulting in a fatal crash, he was operating under a policy that appears to be less restrictive than those that guide other local law enforcement agencies.
Wichita police and Sedgwick County sheriff's vehicle pursuit policies distinguish between chases involving traffic violators and those suspected of violent crimes such as murder or rape. The Kansas Highway Patrol's does not, according to a comparison of the policies.
Police and sheriff's deputies also face specific restrictions with traffic violators that are not spelled out in the Highway Patrol policy.
The Highway Patrol chase around 1 a.m. ended in a crash that killed the fleeing driver and two women in a vehicle that was struck by the fleeing car. Another woman in the second car was critically injured.
Two criminologists disagree on whether the chase was justified, based on information provided so far.
"Most of the major departments in the country don't chase for speeders because it's not worth the risk to the public to apprehend the speeder," said Geoffrey Alpert, a University of South Carolina professor of criminology who specializes in assessing high-risk police situations.
Brian Withrow, a Wichita State University associate professor of criminal justice and a former Texas state trooper, disagrees with Alpert. The driver in the Nov. 15 chase posed a "substantial risk to the safety of the community," Withrow said.
He noted that the driver had been clocked going 83 mph, meaning her "reaction time is down to nanoseconds."
"There's really no question that the person should be pursued in that context," Withrow said. "The only thing that could have, should have, deterred that officer... is if there is heavy traffic."
But traffic was light early that Saturday morning, he said.
Wichita police officials and sheriff's officials wouldn't comment on whether their officers or deputies would have responded as the trooper did.
The Highway Patrol has said that the trooper appeared to follow policy, which allows troopers to chase traffic violators into urban areas when traffic is light and road conditions are favorable.
Highway Patrol Maj. Alan Stoecklein said that the agency reviews all chases, "from the smallest pursuits to a tragedy such as this."
The Highway Patrol said the chase lasted less than five minutes and ended with the crash at 1:05 a.m. Patrol officials said the car being pursued had been clocked going 83 mph in a 60 mph zone on I-135 in south Wichita. The car exited onto 21st Street, went east about six-tenths of a mile and hit another car pulling onto 21st, while the trooper was still pursuing the car.
Jennifer Stilley, 24, the driver of the car being chased, died at a hospital. Her passenger -- her fiance, Joseph Batemon -- has been released from a hospital.
Two women in the other car -- the driver, Mia Cynthia Alberson, 43, and a passenger, Peggy R. King, 44 -- died at the crash scene. A second passenger, Teresa M. Phillips, 45, was critically injured.
Phillips' condition has since been upgraded. On Friday, she was in serious condition, Wesley Medical Center said.
Different guidance
As with the police and sheriff's policies, the Highway Patrol policy tells troopers to consider the seriousness of a violation before starting a chase.
But unlike the other two agencies, the Highway Patrol policy does not specifically restrict chases involving traffic violators.
Wichita police policy directs officers to be more reluctant to begin -- and faster to end -- pursuits involving traffic violators than they are with motorists suspected of committing or threatening violent crimes.
The policy includes a color-coded chart to guide chase decisions. The chart highlights two main areas of consideration: the nature of the offense and the level of risk in a pursuit.
It says that even when there is a low safety risk in pursuing traffic violators, officers can chase only when there is a "substantial threat to public safety if capture is delayed" and only when it "clearly outweighs risk of pursuit."
Under the policy, high risk factors would include frequent intersecting streets, such as in a business district; heavy traffic; and speeds of twice the posted limit or exceeding 80 mph.
The Police Department adopted the policy in 2001 as a result of a crash in 1999 at Douglas and Oliver that killed an Independence couple. The driver of the fleeing car that struck the couple's vehicle was suspected of shoplifting.
The Sedgwick County sheriff's policy also distinguishes between chases involving traffic offenses and those involving violent crimes. It spells out restrictions for chasing traffic offenders.
According to the sheriff's pursuit policy: "A deputy may overtake, intercept or clock a suspected traffic violator. However, when the deputy enters into a pursuit mode caused by the fleeing driver attempting to elude apprehension, the pursuit shall be terminated immediately except" in certain circumstances. Those circumstances would be where a deputy can freely chase in a designated lane on a limited-access road or on rural roads with limited intersections.
Undersheriff Bob Hinshaw said the policy puts a priority on catching those who have committed a violent crime or pose an imminent threat to commit a violent crime. If a situation involves a traffic violator, the policy calls for quickly ending a pursuit unless conditions allow it, he said.
The Highway Patrol policy, however, does not distinguish between pursuing violent criminals and traffic violators.
The agency's policy allows for pursuing traffic violators who keep going, said Stoecklein, the Highway Patrol's regional commander for central and western Kansas.
The policy tells troopers to continually consider whether conditions merit ending the chase.
Stoecklein said he couldn't comment on the Nov. 15 accident because the agency's investigation is ongoing. The investigation includes an accident reconstruction.
He declined to comment on the status of the trooper involved in the chase, who has several years of experience.
Faulting the chase
Alpert, the University of South Carolina criminologist, said that if the Wichita chase was based on speeding alone, it doesn't justify the length of the pursuit.
Continuing the chase into a commercial and residential area along 21st Street, with connecting streets and crosswalks, raises the risks, Alpert said.
There's nothing wrong with trying to initially stop speeders, but once they refuse to pull over, pursuit should be stopped because it endangers everyone involved and because there's no way to safely stop a motorist who keeps going, he said.
Even on a freeway, he said, "I still don't think it's worth it."
When the chase left the interstate and entered 21st Street, "every intersection is playing Russian roulette," he said.
And it's dangerous even at 1 a.m., when the chase occurred, he said, "because people pull out" and would still be traveling or walking across the street at that hour.
"Especially if it's close to a university, where students are up half the night," Alpert said.
The crash occurred near the Wichita police north patrol station and a couple of hundred yards west of the Wichita State University campus.
The Highway Patrol hasn't said how fast the fleeing driver and patrol car were going at the time of the crash.
Florida's example
Nationwide, "the state patrols are the last to really limit the pursuits," Alpert said. "Their jurisdictions are really the highways... and they don't want to give up one of their main jobs, which is traffic enforcement."
The Florida Highway Patrol has one of the more restrictive chase policies, he said.
Florida troopers do not chase traffic violators, said Capt. Mark Welch, the agency's spokesman.
The Florida Highway Patrol policy states: "Members are authorized to pursue suspects who are reasonably thought to be violent and pose a danger to the public at large. Therefore, members may pursue a suspect only if the member reasonably believes the suspect has committed or attempted to commit a crime of violence." The next sentence, which the policy manual prints in bold, all-capital letters is:
"All other pursuits are prohibited."
Defending the chase
But Withrow, the WSU criminologist, who was involved in chases when he was a state trooper, said: "The person is 23 mph over the speed limit.
"Clearly, the trooper is a traffic enforcement officer. This is a huge violation" of traffic law.
The approach for a state trooper is generally different than a municipal police officer when it comes to traffic violators, Withrow said.
Municipal officers tend not to go after traffic violators as much, he said.
But troopers tend to be "very buttoned down, very formal" and "for them, a speeding violation is a major thing," he said.
In the recent accident, the trooper spotted the car going well over the speed limit on a highway -- where a trooper does most of his enforcement. So it was natural for him to pursue, Withrow said.
The chase went outside the trooper's typical environment when the fleeing driver exited the highway.
"You can second-guess this all the way, but in that context, that trooper saw a substantial threat to public safety" and was obligated to try to stop her for her own protection as well, Withrow said.
"If she had just pulled over, it wouldn't have been an issue," he said. "We tend to blame the trooper."
But she was "the person most able to change the outcome," he said.
BY TIM POTTER
When a state trooper chased a speeding motorist early Nov. 15 onto East 21st Street, resulting in a fatal crash, he was operating under a policy that appears to be less restrictive than those that guide other local law enforcement agencies.
Wichita police and Sedgwick County sheriff's vehicle pursuit policies distinguish between chases involving traffic violators and those suspected of violent crimes such as murder or rape. The Kansas Highway Patrol's does not, according to a comparison of the policies.
Police and sheriff's deputies also face specific restrictions with traffic violators that are not spelled out in the Highway Patrol policy.
The Highway Patrol chase around 1 a.m. ended in a crash that killed the fleeing driver and two women in a vehicle that was struck by the fleeing car. Another woman in the second car was critically injured.
Two criminologists disagree on whether the chase was justified, based on information provided so far.
"Most of the major departments in the country don't chase for speeders because it's not worth the risk to the public to apprehend the speeder," said Geoffrey Alpert, a University of South Carolina professor of criminology who specializes in assessing high-risk police situations.
Brian Withrow, a Wichita State University associate professor of criminal justice and a former Texas state trooper, disagrees with Alpert. The driver in the Nov. 15 chase posed a "substantial risk to the safety of the community," Withrow said.
He noted that the driver had been clocked going 83 mph, meaning her "reaction time is down to nanoseconds."
"There's really no question that the person should be pursued in that context," Withrow said. "The only thing that could have, should have, deterred that officer... is if there is heavy traffic."
But traffic was light early that Saturday morning, he said.
Wichita police officials and sheriff's officials wouldn't comment on whether their officers or deputies would have responded as the trooper did.
The Highway Patrol has said that the trooper appeared to follow policy, which allows troopers to chase traffic violators into urban areas when traffic is light and road conditions are favorable.
Highway Patrol Maj. Alan Stoecklein said that the agency reviews all chases, "from the smallest pursuits to a tragedy such as this."
The Highway Patrol said the chase lasted less than five minutes and ended with the crash at 1:05 a.m. Patrol officials said the car being pursued had been clocked going 83 mph in a 60 mph zone on I-135 in south Wichita. The car exited onto 21st Street, went east about six-tenths of a mile and hit another car pulling onto 21st, while the trooper was still pursuing the car.
Jennifer Stilley, 24, the driver of the car being chased, died at a hospital. Her passenger -- her fiance, Joseph Batemon -- has been released from a hospital.
Two women in the other car -- the driver, Mia Cynthia Alberson, 43, and a passenger, Peggy R. King, 44 -- died at the crash scene. A second passenger, Teresa M. Phillips, 45, was critically injured.
Phillips' condition has since been upgraded. On Friday, she was in serious condition, Wesley Medical Center said.
Different guidance
As with the police and sheriff's policies, the Highway Patrol policy tells troopers to consider the seriousness of a violation before starting a chase.
But unlike the other two agencies, the Highway Patrol policy does not specifically restrict chases involving traffic violators.
Wichita police policy directs officers to be more reluctant to begin -- and faster to end -- pursuits involving traffic violators than they are with motorists suspected of committing or threatening violent crimes.
The policy includes a color-coded chart to guide chase decisions. The chart highlights two main areas of consideration: the nature of the offense and the level of risk in a pursuit.
It says that even when there is a low safety risk in pursuing traffic violators, officers can chase only when there is a "substantial threat to public safety if capture is delayed" and only when it "clearly outweighs risk of pursuit."
Under the policy, high risk factors would include frequent intersecting streets, such as in a business district; heavy traffic; and speeds of twice the posted limit or exceeding 80 mph.
The Police Department adopted the policy in 2001 as a result of a crash in 1999 at Douglas and Oliver that killed an Independence couple. The driver of the fleeing car that struck the couple's vehicle was suspected of shoplifting.
The Sedgwick County sheriff's policy also distinguishes between chases involving traffic offenses and those involving violent crimes. It spells out restrictions for chasing traffic offenders.
According to the sheriff's pursuit policy: "A deputy may overtake, intercept or clock a suspected traffic violator. However, when the deputy enters into a pursuit mode caused by the fleeing driver attempting to elude apprehension, the pursuit shall be terminated immediately except" in certain circumstances. Those circumstances would be where a deputy can freely chase in a designated lane on a limited-access road or on rural roads with limited intersections.
Undersheriff Bob Hinshaw said the policy puts a priority on catching those who have committed a violent crime or pose an imminent threat to commit a violent crime. If a situation involves a traffic violator, the policy calls for quickly ending a pursuit unless conditions allow it, he said.
The Highway Patrol policy, however, does not distinguish between pursuing violent criminals and traffic violators.
The agency's policy allows for pursuing traffic violators who keep going, said Stoecklein, the Highway Patrol's regional commander for central and western Kansas.
The policy tells troopers to continually consider whether conditions merit ending the chase.
Stoecklein said he couldn't comment on the Nov. 15 accident because the agency's investigation is ongoing. The investigation includes an accident reconstruction.
He declined to comment on the status of the trooper involved in the chase, who has several years of experience.
Faulting the chase
Alpert, the University of South Carolina criminologist, said that if the Wichita chase was based on speeding alone, it doesn't justify the length of the pursuit.
Continuing the chase into a commercial and residential area along 21st Street, with connecting streets and crosswalks, raises the risks, Alpert said.
There's nothing wrong with trying to initially stop speeders, but once they refuse to pull over, pursuit should be stopped because it endangers everyone involved and because there's no way to safely stop a motorist who keeps going, he said.
Even on a freeway, he said, "I still don't think it's worth it."
When the chase left the interstate and entered 21st Street, "every intersection is playing Russian roulette," he said.
And it's dangerous even at 1 a.m., when the chase occurred, he said, "because people pull out" and would still be traveling or walking across the street at that hour.
"Especially if it's close to a university, where students are up half the night," Alpert said.
The crash occurred near the Wichita police north patrol station and a couple of hundred yards west of the Wichita State University campus.
The Highway Patrol hasn't said how fast the fleeing driver and patrol car were going at the time of the crash.
Florida's example
Nationwide, "the state patrols are the last to really limit the pursuits," Alpert said. "Their jurisdictions are really the highways... and they don't want to give up one of their main jobs, which is traffic enforcement."
The Florida Highway Patrol has one of the more restrictive chase policies, he said.
Florida troopers do not chase traffic violators, said Capt. Mark Welch, the agency's spokesman.
The Florida Highway Patrol policy states: "Members are authorized to pursue suspects who are reasonably thought to be violent and pose a danger to the public at large. Therefore, members may pursue a suspect only if the member reasonably believes the suspect has committed or attempted to commit a crime of violence." The next sentence, which the policy manual prints in bold, all-capital letters is:
"All other pursuits are prohibited."
Defending the chase
But Withrow, the WSU criminologist, who was involved in chases when he was a state trooper, said: "The person is 23 mph over the speed limit.
"Clearly, the trooper is a traffic enforcement officer. This is a huge violation" of traffic law.
The approach for a state trooper is generally different than a municipal police officer when it comes to traffic violators, Withrow said.
Municipal officers tend not to go after traffic violators as much, he said.
But troopers tend to be "very buttoned down, very formal" and "for them, a speeding violation is a major thing," he said.
In the recent accident, the trooper spotted the car going well over the speed limit on a highway -- where a trooper does most of his enforcement. So it was natural for him to pursue, Withrow said.
The chase went outside the trooper's typical environment when the fleeing driver exited the highway.
"You can second-guess this all the way, but in that context, that trooper saw a substantial threat to public safety" and was obligated to try to stop her for her own protection as well, Withrow said.
"If she had just pulled over, it wouldn't have been an issue," he said. "We tend to blame the trooper."
But she was "the person most able to change the outcome," he said.
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