Bad combination.
I just had to share this with you. Being an ex-cop and a riding trainer to both cops and civilians, this hit me on both counts. Here's what happens when an irresponsible, negligent rider meets up with over zealous law enforcement. This is the kind of thing I was writing about in the last post. It gives motorcycling a black eye.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/30/AR2007053002615.html?hpid=topnews
Dan
2 comments:
We're not even calling it a pursuit...
--Lt. April Delabrer, PGCPD; June 1, 2007
So if it wasn't a pursuit, was any motorcycle involved at all, let alone one operated by "an irresponsible, negligent rider"?
As of Saturday, June 2, 2007, Lt. April Delabrer of the public information office for the PGCPD had announced, "We're not even calling it a pursuit," although Prince George's Police Chief Melvin C. High had previously said the video camera in the cruiser had recorded the pursuit and crash, that said video was in police custody, and that the footage would be used to try to identify the motorcycle and its operator.
As of Monday, June 4, 2007, neither the radio traffic recordings of the non-pursuit nor the video have been released.
From the Washington Post article you referenced: "The accident was set in motion about 7 p.m. when a Prince George's police cruiser chasing the motorcycle on the outer loop near the Ritchie Marlboro Road exit slammed into a vehicle after the motorcycle cut in front of the car, police said."
In an editorial published the next day (Friday, June 1, 2007; Page A14), Prince George's Pileup, the PGCPD's high-speed pursuit policy is made plain: "A police spokesman said that department policy stipulates that officers may engage in a high-speed chase only if there is probable cause that the person being pursued was involved in a hit-and-run accident or in a felony involving the use of force. The spokesman could not say yesterday why the officer might have been pursuing the motorcyclist -- a critical question that the department must answer soon. The officer was placed on administrative leave pending a criminal investigation."
The following day's article (Saturday, June 2, 2007; Page B02), Police Actions Questioned in Fatal Crash, states: "But on Thursday, police backed off the original account, saying they could not confirm that a pursuit took place. They did not identify the officer driving the cruiser, who has been placed on administrative leave."
The article said a police cruiser was chasing a motorcycle. A police chief said the video had recorded a pursuit and crash.
I was raised on a horse ranch. If it smelled like horse poop, looked like horse poop, and whatever else; it's probably horse poop. Whatever anyone else calls it!!
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