Georgia Injury Lawyer Blog

A Florida jury awarded a 92-year-old man over $5.3 million in his wrongful death lawsuit against Phillip Morris, the cigarette maker according to The Miami Herald. The man’s wife died in 1996 at the age of 63 from lung cancer after smoking 2 packs of Marlboro’s a day since she was 16-years of age. The apparent theory of the case was that the tobacco industry, including Philip Morris, misrepresented the risk of smoking in its advertising and knowingly sold a product which was addictive. Notwithstanding the ridiculous 1994 sworn testimony of the tobacco industry CEO’s to Congress that “nicotine is not addictive”, this jury found otherwise.

Losing a loved one is difficult especially when that loss is due to the negligence of another person or persons. Finch McCranie, LLP has over 40 years experience pursuing wrongful death lawsuits. If you have lost a loved one and feel you have a wrongful death claim, call our experienced Georgia injury lawyers at 1-800-228-9159 for a free consultation of your case.

If you go on Google and take advantage of a tool known as “Google News Alerts,” Google will send to you via e-mail news accounts in which certain terms are used. I typed in today the terms “police chase killed.” The following are headlines received from newspapers across the country which I received from this Google News Alert:

1) Victim In Police Chase Remembered as Caring Mom;
2) Woman Killed In Crash During Oakland Police Chase;
3) Toddler Killed In Police Chase;
4) One Man Dead After Barrie Police Chase;
5) Woman Hurt In Police Chase Speaks Out;
6) Two Year Old Killed In Police Chase;

If you read these stories which are linked to the newspaper accounts of the alerts, you will find that innocent people were killed during high speed police chases in Alabama, San Francisco and Barrie, Canada, all occurring on August 26, 2009. As indicated, one of them was a 2-year old child, the other an innocent woman and caring mother and the other a male. This is just in one day which is typical of what you see when you use this Google Alert tool. Simply stated, innocent people are being killed each and every day in the United States (and elsewhere) in high speed police pursuits. Query, when the police promise to “protect and serve,” do they not remember that the innocent can be killed during these events? As we have stated before, the police should only chase violent felons during high speed pursuits otherwise they are risking the death of innocent persons in order to apprehend a non-violent individual. The societal costs are too great to continue these dangerous chases when the suspect being chased at high speeds is not dangerous but the pursuit is. High speed pursuits can kill the innocent. They should be reserved for occasions when the risk to the public is justified.

Georgia injury lawyers have not forgotten the sworn testimony the CEO’s of all of the major tobacco companies gave Congress a few years ago. Who could forget when these prominent men raised their right hands and swore that “Nicotine is not addictive”. Apparently a jury has not forgotten their testimony. Bloomberg reported that in a wrongful death case, a California jury has ordered Altria Group, Inc., the parent company of Philip Morris USA, maker of Marlboro cigarettes to pay $13.8 million in punitive damages to the daughter of a smoker who died of lung cancer. According to the original lawsuit, the cigarette maker misrepresented the risk of smoking in its advertising. In 2002, a jury awarded $28 million to the plaintiff. That award was later reduced and eventually thrown out prior to the most recent trial. The deceased plaintiff who was 64 at the time of the original trial had smoked since she was 17. According to her lawyer, Philip Morris misrepresented the risks of smoking for 50 years.

The Georgia injury law firm of Finch McCranie, LLP have over 40 years experience pursuing wrongful death lawsuits. If you have lost a loved one and feel you have a wrongful death claim, call our experienced attorneys at 1 (800) 228-9159 for a free consultation.

A Douglas County, Georgia woman has been charged with criminal offenses involving drunk driving after a collision early last Monday morning resulted in two deaths of innocent motorists. The Atlanta press reported that Natasha Searcy, 22, was driving drunk in her 1998 Pontiac when she crossed the center line, striking a car driven by 25-year-old Ashley Ingalsbe.

Searcy has been charged with vehicular homicide in the first and second degrees, driving under the influence, not having insurance and failure to maintain lane, and was denied bond.
The press reported that Luke Ingalsbe, 4, died in the crash. Ashley Ingalsbe died Monday afternoon, and Ashley Ingalsbe’s 2-year-old son Jacob and her boyfriend, Thomas Vinnacombe, were also seriously injured.

This incident follows a recent effort by the United States Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, to crackdown on impaired driving. Earlier this month, NHTSA released a new study that revealed an increasing trend among women driving under the influence of alcohol. The study showed an alarming increase of female alcohol impaired drivers involved in fatal crashes in 2008 compared with 2007.

The NHTSA study also referenced FBI data showing that arrests for women driving under the influence increased nearly 30% over the 10 year period from 1998 to 2007, while arrests of men for the same offense decreased by 7.5%.

According to NHTSA impaired driving women has become a national safety issue. Overall about 2,000 fatalities a year involve impaired female drivers.

The Georgia injury lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP have written before about the draconian “tort reform” laws enacted by the Georgia legislature in recent years. Most Georgia citizens have no idea what their elected politicians have done to deprive them of their right to be made whole if injured or killed as a result of a doctor’s negligence. A recent case demonstrates what could happen in Georgia. The Denton Record-Chronicle reports that a Denton County Texas jury has ordered a hospital, a doctor and a physician’s assistant to pay $3.5 million the family of a woman who died of mis-diagnosed cancer. According to the article, the victim was 33 years old when she noticed a small bump on the right crown of her head. She visited the doctor who told her that the bump was a sebaceous cyst, a non-malignant lesion. A week later, the doctor’s PA removed the cyst and discarded it instead of sending it to a lab for testing. A year later it returned and the woman went to a different doctor. Fearing that it was a malignant sarcoma, the second doctor removed it and sent it off for testing. The test confirmed the suspected diagnosis and the woman died within a year. Texas caps on awards in medical cases will reduce the size of the award to $1.5 million. Given the fact that the married victim lost her life and left a husband, a two year old and a nine month old child behind, the $1.5 million that her family will receive is pitifully small but under Georgia law they would receive even less. Georgia law limits non-economic damages in a medical malpractice wrongful death case to $250,000.00.

Losing a loved one as a result of a medical providers failure to properly and timely diagnose cancer i.e. medical malpractice, is very difficult. The Georgia injury law firm of Finch McCranie, LLP have over 40 years experience pursuing wrongful death lawsuits. If you have lost a loved one and feel you have a wrongful death claim, call our experienced attorneys at 1 (800) 228-9159 for a free consultation.

Our Georgia attorneys frequently receive calls about dangerous drugs which seem to be routinely marketed to unsuspecting consumers and health care professionals. Recently, weight-loss drugs made by mega-manufacturers GlaxoSmithKline Plc and Roche Holding AG were linked to at least 32 reports of serious liver injury from 1999 to October 2008.

The Food and Drug Administration has posted a notice on its web site advising consumers taking Glaxo’s over-the-counter drug Alli or Roche’s prescription Xenical to consult a doctor if they experience weakness, fever, jaundice or other symptoms of liver injury. The FDA did not recommend that patients or doctors stop using these medicines.

Both medicines contain orlistat, a chemical that blocks the intestines from absorbing fat when taken as many as three times a day with meals. The FDA approved Xenical in 1999 for weight loss and weight management in conjunction with a reduced-calorie diet. Alli, half the dose of Xenical, was cleared for non- prescription use in 2007.

Thirty of the 32 reports reviewed by FDA occurred outside the U.S., according to the notice. Six of the cases involved liver failure.

Last September a 2 month old child in Demorest, Georgia, died after being suffocated when she became trapped in a pocket of fabric not securely fastened to her bassinet. In January of this year, a 6 month old child in Fort Worth, Texas, died when a fabric flap on her basinett was undone and she became trapped between exposed bars in the bassinet.

Both children died after getting trapped in previously recalled bassinets manufactured by Simplicity. These deaths follow two prior deaths in 2008 under similar circumstances.

Last Thursday, the Consumer Product Safety Commission renewed warnings about the dangers associated with close-sleeper/bedside bassinets. The Simplicity 3 in 1 nad 4 in 1 convertible bassinets contain metal bars which are spaced farther apart than allowed by federal standards.

The bassinets were manufactured before May 18, 2008, and include some sold under the Graco brand.

If you have one of the bassinets or are aware of someone using one, please cease use immediately and return it to the seller.

The lawyers at Finch McCranie LLP have litigated product liability claims for many years. If you or someone you know has been injured by a defective product please call toll free at 800-228-9159 for a free consultation.

Drug manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline has apparently been caught using a ghostwriting program to promote its antidepressant Paxil. The program allowed doctors to take credit for medical journal articles mainly written by company consultants.

Documents obtained through discovery in a civil lawsuit exposed the program. In one document, an internal company memo, salespeople were instructed to approach physicians and offer to help them write and publish articles about their positive experiences prescribing the drug. The document explains how the company can help physicians with everything from ''developing a topic,'' to ''submitting the manuscript for publication.'' The program was code named CASSPER by the company.

The document was discovered , by Plaintiff lawyers representing hundreds of former Paxil users in personal injury and wrongful death suits against GlaxoSmithKline. The firm alleges the company downplayed several risks connected with its drug, including increased suicidal behavior and birth defects.

According to the document, which dates from April 2000, the CASPPER program was designed to ''strengthen the product positioning and overcome competitive issues.'' At the time, Paxil was competing with rival antidepressant like Eli Lilly's Prozac and Pfizer's Zoloft. Paxil has since lost its patent protection and competes against cheaper generic versions. Sales of Paxil last year totaled $849 million.

The use of ghostwriting by drug companies has come under increased scrutiny by members of Congress, including Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, a longtime critic of the industry's influence over physicians. Grassley and Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis., are pushing a bill that would require companies to disclose all payments to physicians over $100.

Articles from the company's program appeared in five journals between 2000 and 2002, including the American Journal of Psychiatry and the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

Drug company salespeople often present medical journal articles to physicians as independent proof that their drugs are safe and effective.

The current health care debate has been expoited by large insurance companies and certain doctor groups to advance limits on their exposure for what are often preventable errors which many times leave innocent people maimed or dead. The Lexington Kentucky Herald-Leader has published an article exposing the falsehoods these groups are presenting to the public in an effort to simply increase their profits. This article is so important and factual that it is reprinted below:

Tort reform doesn't cut health costs. Sen. Mitch McConnell's No. 1 idea for fixing what ails our health care system is to limit the rights of those maimed by medical malpractice.

But states that have enacted curbs on what McConnell calls "junk lawsuits" have yet to see the cost savings promised by McConnell and other proponents of tort reform.

On the contrary, Texas capped malpractice damages in 2003 only to experience a steep rise in health insurance premiums and medical costs.

Medicare spending rose 24 percent in the three years after punitive damages were capped at $250,000, according to the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy.

One of the most expensive health-care markets in the country is the Texas city of McAllen. Only Miami, which has much higher labor and living costs, spends more per person on Medicare.

Boston surgeon Atul Gawande visited McAllen and wrote an account for The New Yorker, "The Conundrum: What a Texas town can teach us about health care" that's required reading for anyone trying to understand this admittedly baffling topic.

One night at dinner with six local doctors he asked why the average cost per Medicare enrollee had soared from $4,891, about the national average in 1992, to almost twice the national average of $15,000 per enrollee in 2006.

For perspective, the per capita income in McAllen is only $12,000.

Several of the physicians said doctors practiced defensive medicine to protect themselves from the city's especially aggressive lawyers; they ordered extra tests and procedures which drive up costs.

But what about the strict limits on malpractice damages. Haven't lawsuits gone down?

"Practically to zero," one of the docs said.

What's finally revealed is that doctors in McAllen are heavily invested in medical technology and imaging and surgery centers. They order lots of tests and procedures because they directly profit from them. They think of what they do as a business.

The critical choice facing this country is whether health care will continue to go the way of McAllen or whether it can be guided toward a Mayo Clinic model in which doctors work together to deliver the best care with the fewest tests and procedures.

We should all hope the Mayo model wins because the outcomes for patients are far better. Also, at the current rate, health care costs will soon eat up so much of the federal budget that this country will no longer be able to afford to defend itself.

The Texas experience with malpractice is not unique. Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham surveyed 27 states that have limits on non-economic damages and discovered no savings for health care consumers.

McConnell is offering a few other of what he calls "common sense" ideas. He favors some insurance reforms, such as covering pre-existing conditions, and incentives for living a healthful lifestyle.

He also says individuals buying insurance should be entitled to the same tax deductions as companies buying insurance for their employees.

McConnell acknowledges that health care reform is necessary, but his prescription is mostly a placebo.

Another bank with a large presence in Georgia has bowed to pressure from consumers and consumer advocacy groups and abandoned the unfair practice of mandatory arbitration. Bank of America Corp. announced it will stop requiring that disputes with its credit card holders and banking and lending customers be settled by binding arbitration.

As we have written before, many consumers are unaware that card agreements typically include a clause that waives a card holder's right to sue. Lenders instead use arbitration to go after delinquent accounts and employ arbitrators to fight disputes with their customers. These so called “neutral arbitrators” have been shown to be biased in favor of the large corporations and banks which frequently use their services.

In fact, last month the biggest arbitration group, the National Arbitration Forum in St. Louis Park, Minn., agreed to stop arbitrating credit card disputes after being sued by Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson, who alleged violations of state consumer fraud, deceptive trade practices and false advertising laws by hiding financial ties to collection agencies and credit card companies.

Swanson said the group handled more than 214,000 collection claims in 2006. The group had denied wrongdoing but said it got out of the business of arbitrating consumer finance loans because of legal costs.

A few days later the American Arbitration Association said it would stop arbitrating consumer debt collection. A bill is currently before the Congress to ban arbitration clauses from credit card agreements.

Bank of America announced the change covers the company's credit cards, consumer RV and marine loans, and banking customers.

A health insurer which sells policies in Georgia and other states has been subjected to a major fine and other sanctions by the state of New York, after New York officials accused it of leaving patients with huge hospital bills.

The American Medical and Life Insurance Co., advertising through an intermediary called Cinergy, markets health insurance as a lower cost option for the uninsured and underinsured. It was pitched as costing just $5 a day, or the cost of a hamburger or pack of cigarettes.
In one TV ad, the narrator said the insurance is available "regardless of any pre-existing conditions," while the print on the screen stated "most pre-existing conditions accepted" and the fine print stated there is a six-month waiting period.

As a result of the New York action, the company must stop running the national ads and pay a fine of $700,000 .

New York’s Acting Insurance Superintendent said Wednesday that the cases uncovered in New York's two-year investigation included a Rochester woman who had $419 a month charged to her credit card for the insurance, only to have the company cover just $1,164 of her $28,000 hospitalization. A 36-year-old New Yorker who had a stroke found his policy covered just $250, leaving him with a bill for $29,917. In both cases, the company paid off the balances after the state intervened.

The New York City-based company sells policies in 38 other states, including Georgia, and the District of Columbia. It sold about 12,000 policies in New York, about 5,000 of which have lapsed, and about 38,000 nationwide.

New York is also prohibiting the company from selling its partial coverage policies in New York, in part because state officials said the company failed to fully disclose the extent of coverage or use licensed agents as required.

We read this week the tragic news of eight (8) deaths in a police chase in California. According to news accounts, the police were trying to stop a Dodge Neon over alleged traffic infractions when the pursuit began. Is it worth risking the death penalty to innocent members of the motoring public to catch a traffic violator? There is nothing in the news accounts indicating that this violator was known to the police to be violent. Nonetheless, even though police chases present much greater dangers to the public themselves than do mere traffic violators, nonetheless, the pursuit ensued and the end result was the death of eight (8) individuals. It is not known whether one of the eight (8) was the suspect, but obviously at least seven (7) of the eight (8) were totally innocent in the premises and tragically many of the decedents were children ages 1 through 7.

This case is a classic example of what is wrong with police chases throughout this country. The police continue to believe that they have to chase violators otherwise they will be promoting a disregard for the law. Research and statistics show that if you terminate chases like the one in issue, there is no corresponding increase in the number of violations which later occur. There is a decrease, however, in serious injuries or deaths caused by unreasonable and unsafe police chases.

Our condolences go to the families involved in this great tragedy. Sooner or later the law enforcement community is going to have to accept the reality that being that police chases are too dangerous to justify unless the suspect being chased is known to be dangerous. Yes, the police should chase violent felons, rapists, murders, and carjackers. No, they should not chase mere traffic violators or non-violent offenders unless it is clearly safe to do so. If the roads are empty, it is late at night, and there are no other motorists on the road then chase such a suspect, however, if the chase is being conducted in an urban setting where other motorists are on the road, it is not worth imposing the death penalty on the innocent in order to catch a traffic violator

A United States Senate committee has approved a bill that would give broader whistleblower protection to federal employees. The Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2009, S. 372, which amends the existing Whistleblower Protection Act, was unanimously approved by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

The legislation is sponsored by both Republican and Democrats, including including Sens. Daniel K. Akaka, D-Hawaii, Susan M. Collins, R-Maine, and Joe I. Lieberman, I-Conn.

As reported from committee, the bill would increase whistleblower protections by clarifying that federal employees are protected for any disclosure of waste, fraud or abuse, including those made as part of an employee’s job duties. It would provide protections for the first time to employees at the Transportation Security Administration, and allow whistleblowers to bring their cases before a jury in federal courts, provided that the case meets certain conditions.

The measure would also set up a process in the executive branch to adjudicate whistleblower claims in cases when employees claim their security clearance was denied or revoked, or if they were denied classified information as a result of their disclosures.

The measure also creates an ombudsman position in every Inspector General office to advocate for protected federal employees, and suspends the U.S. Courts of Appeals’ sole jurisdiction over federal employee whistleblower cases for five years.

The Senators have proposed this bill in the response to fears of federal employees of retaliation for coming forward to disclose government wrongdoing.

Finch McCranie LLP has actively and successfully practiced in the area of Whistleblower law. For more information please visit our Whistleblower blog at http://www.whistleblowerlawyerblog.com.

Georgia injury lawyers representing victims of medical malpractice are still disheartened about the so-called “tort reform” that the Georgia Legislature has enacted in the last two or three years. Most Georgia citizens have no idea that they have given virtual immunity to Georgia emergency room physicians. If you are a patient in a Georgia hospital emergency room and you are seriously injured or meet your death as a result of an emergency room doctor’s negligence or medical malpractice, you cannot sue the doctor or the hospital for damages “unless it is proven clear and convincing evidence that that the physician or health care provider’s actions showed gross negligence”. In Georgia if you are lucky enough to make it out of the emergency room and you are injured or die as a result of medical malpractice committed elsewhere, you are limited to a recovery of $250,000.00 in non-economic damages thanks to the good work of conservative Georgia legislators looking out for big business at the expense of Georgia citizens.

Recently, a Virginia jury awarded $4 million to a woman whose heart condition was misdiagnosed by an emergency room physician in Virginia. According to the lawsuit, the woman was forced to undergo a heart transplant as a result of the misdiagnosis. The condition could have been treated with medication had it been caught early enough, according to the victim’s lawyer. The award was later reduced to $1.8 million which is the cap on medical-related damages in Virginia. If she had been in Georgia, it is likely the woman would have no case whatsoever under Georgia law because the doctor’s negligence/malpractice was committed while she was a patient in the emergency room.

The Georgia medical malpractice lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP have many years of experience in medical malpractice cases and we are committed to providing personal service and to obtaining fair compensation for all of our clients. Call us at 1-800-228-9159 for a free consultation

Many Georgians were affected by the recent salmonella outbreak related to peanut butter. Some were sickened by the defective product and others lost jobs in the peanut processing plant that became ground zero for the recall. Now, the Food and Drug Administration has announced it is moving towards stronger, more aggressive and much faster responses to enforcing the laws and regulations that govern the safety of drugs, medical devices and much of the U.S. food supply,

New FDA commissioner Margaret Hamburg has been in office only 8 weeks but has made positive moves to protect citizens. During the past several years, the FDA has faced a number of high profile food recalls, including pistachios, peanuts, spinach, tomatoes, hot peppers, cookie dough, pet food and various meats, as well as problems with medical devices and drugs. The agency has also been rightly criticized for not acting quickly or strongly enough when it encounters violations of the law.

The new Commissioner admitted that in some cases, serious violations have gone unaddressed for far too long. These include violations involving product quality and safety, adulteration and misbranding. false, misleading, or otherwise unlawful labeling; and misleading advertising.

But now, she has announced that the FDA is streamlining its internal processes to speed and strengthen enforcement. The new guidelines being implemented are:

• When FDA inspectors find significant problems at a food, drug or medical device firm, the company will generally have no more than 15 days to respond.

•FDA warning letters will go out much more quickly with review by its lawyers limited to only significant legal issues.

•FDA will work more closely with local, state and international officials, who often have more authority to take action more quickly than FDA.

•FDA will prioritize enforcement follow-up after warning letters are sent or a product is recalled.

• FDA will no longer issue multiple enforcement letters before taking action.

• Finally, FDA will create a "close-out" process and issue a "close-out letter" indicating violations corrected.

FDA recently received an increase in funding from Congress, which will aid in this overhaul. In addition, last Thursday the House passed major food safety legislation, which among other things would give FDA mandatory recall authority. The Senate is expected to vote on the legislation in the fall.

For the second time this week a man has been seriously injured in a Georgia motorcycle accident. A Tennessee man who is a member of the Steelehorseman motorcycle club in Nashville was on his way to the National Biker Roundup at the Atlanta Motor Speedway when the accident occurred on I-7 S at State Route 92 in Atlanta. He was airlifted to Grady Hospital where he is being treated for his injuries. The accident is under investigation. Yesterday’s motorcycle accident resulted in the wrongful death of the motorcyclist when he was struck from behind by an SUV.

Regrettably, the Georgia injury lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP have handled many motorcycle incidents over the years involving wrongful death and serious injuries. We can only hope that there will be no further tragedies during this otherwise fantastic event for motorcycle enthusiasts.

We read today about a deadly police chase which occurred over the weekend which is both tragic but also unbelievable. In this particular case, the police were chasing a 20-year old male in Pennsylvania allegedly for driving a vehicle which was reported as stolen. During the high speed pursuit which ensued, the police chased this individual through, according to news accounts, “39 stop signs and/or stop lights.” In other words, during this pursuit, the police witnessed this individual as a result of the high speed pursuit run 39 stop signs and red lights!! What were they thinking??? Were they thinking at all?? Did they actually believe that the subject was suddenly going to pull over during these many dangerous traffic violations?? Did not they not realize that the more times the suspect ran a red light or stop sign the greater the likelihood of death to the innocent??? Was it not foreseeable at all times that an innocent person could be killed or seriously injured because of the chase itself? Was the recovery of a stolen vehicle worth the price that was paid by the innocent victim? 39 times the trigger was pulled during this dangerous game of Russian Roulette. The last time was the killer.

This is one of the worst violations of proper police procedure we have read about. The police know that when a high speed pursuit occurs there is always the risk of serious injury or death to the innocent. These risks greatly increase when a suspect indicates his or her willingness to escape apprehension at all costs. The more dangerous they drive in their escape attempt, the more likely and foreseeable it becomes that an innocent third party on the road can be seriously injured or killed. Here, the police were presented with irrefutable evidence that someone might be seriously injured or killed during the dangerous chase and yet they kept the pursuit up, according to the news accounts, through two different cities. For what – a stolen vehicle! Not a rapist, murder or carjacker – a car thief. Does this crime justify the death penalty on the innocent?

It was entirely foreseeable under the events that occurred in this case that someone would be seriously injured or killed. The police should have terminated their pursuit after the suspect ran the first red light or stop sign. It is incredible that others were not injured earlier since the suspect was willing to engage in such dangerous behavior and since the police knew it. In our judgment, the police are largely accountable for this tragedy. The innocent victim, a 42-year old female, died of her injuries the day after the collision. She was simply at the wrong place at the wrong time. The police are the only people who could have prevented this tragedy by terminating the pursuit. The suspect caused all of this – to be sure – by violating the law, by stealing the car and by driving dangerously. But the police contributed to the tragedy. If they had terminated their pursuit, the suspect would have had no need to continue fleeing at high speeds, running numerous red lights and stop signs in the process. Suspects do not wish to be apprehended in stolen vehicles because they can be prosecuted for stealing the car or being in possession of a stolen car. If the chase is terminated, they will in all likelihood drive down a side road and ditch the car so they cannot be found to be in possession of it. Had the police terminated this pursuit early on it is highly likely that this tragedy would never have occurred.

Policies and procedures that are designed to minimize and/or eliminate the risk attendant to high speed pursuits are not worth the paper they are written on if they are not enforced. There needs to be accountability if these policies are ever going to save innocent lives. In this particular case, the police department involved should carefully review the acts of its officers. There was clearly a lack of supervision over this officer. The pursuing officer was caught up in adrenaline and heat of the chase and continued chasing with deadly results. Both the supervisor and the officer should be held accountable for their acts. In our judgment, there was a reckless disregard of proper police procedure here and most experts who review the facts reported in the media would agree with this assessment. While obviously the facts reported in the media are incomplete and we do not know all the details, based upon what we have read, it seems clear that under the facts presented in this particular case that the police engaged in a very dangerous game of Russian Roulette. It was inevitable that someone would be seriously injured or killed if the pursued suspect kept running red lights and stop signs at high speeds. Unfortunately that is exactly what happened. The innocent victim paid the price as always occurs when the police recklessly disregard proper procedure and fail to terminate chases where the chase is more dangerous than the suspect being pursued.

Hopefully – one day – the police will chase violent felons only. Such dangerous persons need to be apprehended and a chase of a violent felon justifies the dangers of a dangerous chase. The chase of a non-violent felon – does not. One day soon, hopefully, the law enforcement community will acknowledge that pursuits like these should never occur.