Arkansas State Police had been filmed leaping a Dodge Charger cruiser at greater than 100 mph final month throughout a visitors cease turned automobile chase. The officers nearly hit a phone pole and eventually stopped after they realized they’d badly broken their cruiser within the chase, begging the query: what was all of it for?
On October 15, state trooper Jackson Shumate pulled over a Dodge Charger driver in Arkansas, stories CarScoops. The driving force stopped, however then fled the scene as soon as Shumate was out of his cruiser.
The officer jumped again of their automobile and sped after the motive force. Within the course of, they launched their police-issued Dodge Charger over a pace hump at nearly 100 mph, in response to dashcam footage of the chase shared on-line. The automobile got here clattering again right down to earth after the bounce, nearly hitting a phone pole and doing a little critical harm to the cruiser within the course of.
At no level within the video, which you’ll be able to see for your self above, does Shumate get wherever close to the automobile they’re chasing regardless of hitting speeds that had been effectively in extra of the posted restrict. Finally, the motive force obtained away, as CarScoops provides:
Shumate audibly reacts and barely avoids hitting a phone pole. Shortly thereafter, he realizes he has an issue. “It’s obtained fairly a spot on me, I believe I broke my oil pan,” Shumate says. In keeping with the video description, the suspect did certainly get away. That is removed from the one case the place plainly suspects evade seize whereas ASP drives at double and even triple the pace restrict to catch them.
The perp obtained away, the automobile was badly broken leaving legislation enforcement with a pricey restore invoice and the lives of different highway customers had been put in danger by the 100-mile-an-hour-chase. So actually, what was the purpose?
America is awash with tales of excessive pace police chases, whether or not it’s cops chasing drivers evading visitors stops like this, or officers pursuing doubtlessly stolen vehicles in reverse down busy highways. Not often do these sorts of tales finish in a profitable arrest, and as a substitute they usually lead to extreme property harm and even the loss of life of harmless bystanders.
The Division of Transportation stories that there are roughly 250,000 excessive pace chases within the U.S. yearly and between 6,000 and eight,000 of these finish in crashes, stories the Florida Division of Regulation Enforcement.
If it’s simply the police automobile that’s broken within the crash, the invoice for taxpayers is already eye-watering. Officers in Arkansas lately obtained approval for a $5.8 million buy of 150 new vehicles for its officers, which places every car within the new fleet at round $40,000. You write off 6,000 Dodge Charger police cruisers and also you’re taking a look at a invoice of $240 million to switch them.
Then there’s the harm to non-public property that may happen. A 2022 report from Pennsylvania Police discovered that the common harm per high-speed chase amounted to roughly $404 for the police, $774 for the violators and a ridiculous $913 for uninvolved individuals.
On high of that, harmless bystanders might discover themselves on the receiving finish of a hefty medical invoice as effectively, as Florida police add that shut to five,000 individuals choose up accidents in police chases yearly. That’s earlier than you get to the one in 500 chases that tragically result in the loss of life of an individual.
There needs to be a greater strategy to ticket a dashing driver than this present marketing campaign of loss of life and destruction.
