An investigative study has discovered alarming facts about law enforcement vehicle pursuits in Oklahoma. The study shows that of all the fatalities resulting from these chases, approximately 25% were innocent individuals who were not connected with the situations in any way. Furthermore, nearly 40% of those who lost their lives were not the individuals evading capture but rather unsuspecting passengers or motorists caught up in the situation.
A particular case left an indelible mark; an Oklahoma Highway Patrol lieutenant was killed during a chase when he was struck by troopers’ vehicles colliding at a self-imposed roadblock. The trigger for the pursuit was minor – mere traffic violations. Looking at a wider view, traffic violations or property crimes were responsible for setting off the majority of the 68 lethal pursuits that happened between 2016 and 2022.
Paradigms in policing are under scrutiny, where many experts believe such violations or crimes are not worth the dangers posed by high-speed chases, let alone the potential loss of lives. Recent federal traffic crash data analysis places Oklahoma in the 8th position nationally for deaths related to vehicle pursuits within the seven-year span.
Members of the House Public Safety and Judiciary committees are contemplating measures to address this issue in Oklahoma. Meanwhile, relatives experiencing the tragic loss of loved ones in these pursuits share their desolation, fury, sense of loss and bouts of melancholy.
Under these victims, Tredrick Johnson, who experienced the heartbreaking loss of his sister and niece, aged 13, exemplifies the personal tragedies ripped open by these unforgiving pursuits. In February 2021, they became unintended victims when a Highway Patrol trooper pursued a ‘possible stolen’ vehicle in east Tulsa. Johnson expressed his profound ire and sadness, ‘Literally, I lost my best friend to something that was stupid.’
Compounding the issue, the state does not maintain data on vehicle pursuits or related accidents. The investigation team had to spend months compiling a database using various federal, state and local public records to uncover specifics about pursuit-related fatalities, the agencies involved, and the reasons behind these chases.
Their exhaustive efforts revealed that out of the 79 deaths from 2016 to 2022, 18 (23%) were motorists with no involvement in the chases. Additionally, at least 42% of those who died were not the drivers attempting to escape.
A retired Oklahoma County Sheriff, and an advocate for revision of chase policies and training to prioritize public and officer safety, voiced his concern over the troubling rate of fatalities linked to Oklahoma pursuits. His advocacy isn’t merely professional; it’s deeply personal as he lost his wife and two-year-old daughter in a pursuit incident involving a drag-racing motorcyclist in 1980.
Instances of fatalities stemming from pursuits involving perpetrators of traffic infringements or property crimes are alarmingly frequent. Situations that turned lethal post traffic stops include minor offenses like failure to signal, improper license plates, non-functioning headlights, etc. Such instances have led some experts to believe that police vehicle pursuits should only be sanctioned for violent crimes.
An independent investigation shared their findings with a retired firefighter turned legislator. The lawmaker concedes that discussions about pursuits within committee meetings are instigated by the media, personal phone calls, and law enforcement chatter within the Capitol. He also believes that the problem extends beyond what the investigation reveals, considering many chase-related injuries, some life-altering.
Ultimately, he suggests that lawmakers should consider establishing a clearer, uniform policy for pursuits statewide. However, such a measure should not compromise officers’ ability to curb certain criminal offenses, such as chasing known drug dealers or terrorists.
The lawmaker highlights the challenge of balancing safety with crime prevention: it happens that officers pursue a traffic violator without knowledge of potential involvement in more severe crimes such as illegal drug or firearms possession. He emphasizes the intrinsic value of human life, regardless of one’s guilt or innocence, urging care about whether the potential for fatalities is worth the goal of the pursuit.
Leading scholars insist that pursuits should be reserved exclusively for situations of violent crimes where the public is in immediate danger. The decision should be guided solely by the known criminal activity and not the driving behaviour. These experts highlight that alternative tactics or technology often lead to successful capture within 24 hours without putting public safety at risk.
The lawmaker also underlines the need for considering the potentially transformative future of young offenders. Their involvement in fatal pursuits risks not only blameless lives, but can also lead these youths to spend their lives behind bars, extinguishing any chance for redemption.
The report discovered discrepancies in the official traffic collision reports related to deadly crashes resulting from pursuits, where the police investigators failed to acknowledge that chases precipitated the accidents. These reports misrepresented fatalities of innocent citizens involved in incidents initiated due to stolen property accusations, obscuring the true causes and counting as misleading statistics.
The investigation noted instances where officers deliberately avoided using terms like ‘pursuit’ or ‘chase’ in their reports – euphemising them instead as ‘spotlighting’ a vehicle, attempting to ‘get the driver to stop.’ This language serves to downplay the seriousness of the situation, further clouding the issues surrounding law enforcement pursuits.