Right: Kristie Priano, an American high school student, was killed in a car crash involving a police pursuit of a stole vehicle. Her death led to a law limiting the immunity of police in these cases. (see the text below for more.)
Background information
(The following is an edited version of the Wikipedia entry titled, 'Car Chase'. The full text of this entry can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Car_chase)Car chases occur when a criminal attempts to use a vehicle to escape from law enforcement attempting to arrest them. The crime committed may be as serious as murder, or lesser crime such as a traffic infraction.
When the criminals realise they have been spotted by law enforcement, they attempt to lose their pursuers by driving away, sometimes at high speed. In 2002, 700 pursuits were reported in the city of Los Angeles.
Police use a number of techniques to end chases, from pleading with the driver to more forceful methods such as spike strips.
The February 2005 Macquarie Fields riots occurred in Sydney, Australia after a local driver crashed a stolen vehicle into a tree, killing his two passengers following a high-speed police pursuit. The death of university student Clea Rose following a police chase in Canberra sparked major recriminations over police pursuit policies.
Reality television has combined with the car chase genre in a number of television shows and specials featuring real footage, mostly taken from police cruisers and law enforcement or media helicopters of actual criminals fleeing from police.
Risks and legal considerations
High-speed car chases are recognised as a road safety problem, as vehicles not involved in the pursuit may be hit by the criminal, who will often violate a number of traffic laws in their attempt to escape, or by the pursuing police cars. In the UK, it is estimated that 40 people a year are killed in road traffic incidents involving police, most as a result of a police pursuit.
Kristie's Law is a proposed California law that would restrict immunity for damage (including injuries or deaths) caused by high-speed pursuits, where law enforcement agencies have established, but not followed, written pursuit policies.
In most common law jurisdictions, the fireman's rule prevents police officers injured in such pursuits from filing civil lawsuits for monetary damages against the fleeing criminals, because such injuries are supposed to be an inherent risk of the job.