Arkansas Blog

I agree that it's easy to second-guess cops on the street, but this is an instance where the decision is not all that difficult. Car chases are almost always a bad choice and should never occur in an effort to apprehend a suspect who poses no threat of harm to others because the risk of collateral harm posed by three or four cars speeding through the city is far too great, particularly where the suspect sought is only a suspected thief or some other non-violent offender.

Mr. Brown's death comes after a near-miss in similar circumstances in the previous couple of weeks. In the other recent chase, the LRPD chased a suspected drug dealer who drove his vehicle into a house. Fortunately, only the suspect was injured, but one can easily imagine what might have happened had he hit a different house or crossed different yards.

Police chases are bad policy and should be curbed by giving patrol officers very strict standards to apply in deciding whether to give chase.

In the fictional car chases in the movies, there's never any follow-up in the storyline regarding the innocent people along the route and in the vehicles trashed during the chase.

Unfortunately fiction seems to motivate more than real life.

Perhaps if the movies showed the realistic aftermath of the deaths, injuries, and financial costs of those exciting cinematic car chases, policy-makers would establish stricter policies and find alternatives to car chases.

The fact that the Supreme Court recently decided that cops can pursue without fear of reprisal from suspects in civil suits points to the growing sympathy for right-wing authoritarian tactics by our government. It's a depressing and obvious turn for our desensitized culture which generally revels in the ability to see the bloody outcomes of these events, preferably live with helicopter news footage. Our culture is ill.

My sorrow goes out to Mr. Brown and condolences to his family. It is unfortunate that in cases like these the innocent too often dies rather than the perpetrator.

Do these two who were running now get charged with first-degree murder? Wasn't there a very similar story a couple weeks ago in the DG? Guy hit a man during a chase, the man who was hit died a week later from his injuries and the suspect was picked up for first-degree? Don't blame the cops, blame the two felons who made the choice to run and punish them.

I'll add my condolences to Mr. Brown's family. This is tragic indeed. But, I'm not convinced that tighter controls on chases is going to solve anything. For the seedier element of society that is already inclined to run from policy, such a prohibition will just embolden them...perhaps even encourage them to speed away more. LRPD has one (or maybe 2) helicopters that are parked & collecting dust. If this is that disturbing to the majority of the community, we need provide more revenue to get these choppers back in the air. Air tracking is one of the most effective and safe means of following those who are fleeing.

My condolences are extended to the Brown family. The driver of the stolen vehicle and his passenger(s) should be charged with vehicular manslaughter. A choice lead to the theft of the car; a choice motivated the run from the police; choices have consequences, which the driver and his passengers should now inherit. Lock them up and throw away the key.

Yes, if someone dies as a result of a crime. like in this case, its murder. I think its stupid to blame the cops for this. There are far too many things that couldve happened. I fully support them on this.

My only regret is that the cops called for medical help for the people fleeing, shouldve left them there to die like the dogs they are.

As I understand it, the police believed that the car in question may have been connected to the robbery of a fast-food restaurant. So, you're dealing with people who steal cars and, possibly, rob fast-food joints... We're not talking about jaywalking here. The police definitely should have pursued these suspects... and since they have now caused the death of another, they should be appropriately charged with that, too.

You are correct, Cozmosis, the car was initially spotted as being possibly connected to a robbery. Today's D*G article said as much.

I'm as much of a liberal as anyone else on this blog, but the cops were not at fault in any way in this incident. The story said the thugs had already pulled far ahead of the cops chasing them. They killed the innocent man because they were afraid of being caught in a stolen car and possibly in connection with a robbery.

I repeat my earlier "tipping point" argument: if the cops don't bother to pursue car thieves, it transmits the message that they won't chase robbers and killers, either.

I, personally, WANT the cops to try to catch car thieves, robbers and killers.

ARK. BLOG: Correct. The police report identified the stolen Lincoln as a "robbery suspect vehicle." The accident report indicates all three cars -- stolen car, victim's car, and trailing patrol car were on the Wright Avenue railroad viaduct when the wreck occurred. The patrol car was in pursuit

I wonder how many of those complaining about the high speed chase would be whining even louder if someone stole their vehicle and the police didn't pursue them?

I'd sure hate to be a police officer. There's very little they can do well enough for the public.

This isn't to belittle the tragedy here and I give my condolences to this poor man's family. Nonetheless, in a society where you can steal a car and not expect a cop to chase you, LR would have even bigger issues with crime than it already does.

I agree with those who say the issue may be tougher than it seems on the surface.

If the occupants of the car had been allowed to get away, and they later shot and killed a 17-year-old Wendy's employee in a robbery, our city would be in an uproar about negligent police work.

Maybe the pursuit policy should be more strict, but I don't think it should be so strict that it wouldn't allow pursuit of those suspected of armed robbery. Wouldn't that mean that any bank robber, for instance, who could make it to the getaway car would be home free? Or at least on the way there. . . . ?

ARK. BLOG: I don't argue with this line of reasoning. But I'm still left uneasy by any hot pursuit. And here. it was the car, not the occupants, identified as a possible suspect vehicle in a robbery. The robbery was earlier in the week, not Thursday night. I don't know about Burger King robbers, but bank robbers often steal cars for robberies and then ditch them. Don't know yet what happened here.

Well, thanks for raising the point Max. I don't mean to suggest I've got answers.

I think we can all agree we too often hear about hot pursuit deaths where a broken tail light or expired tags set the thing in motion. Those should stop for sure, and across the country some lives would be saved.

If it were my car that were stolen, and bystanders were killed as the police chased it as high speeds, I'd rather just have given it away.

Absent some other life-threatening crime, I would never see it as a good thing to have the cops chasing my car at high speed. Let it go.

What a tragic, needless death. I feel privileged to know a few law enforcement officers in central Arkansas. They are truly great, intelligent, hardworking guys. They will be the first to tell you, however, that some of the younger, less experienced among their ranks are a tad heavy on testosterone and equally deficient on judgment. This is not to imply that that's what happened in this case, though. All I know is what I've read here.

The number of deaths to the innocent victims of pursuit climb. People are outraged and then most forget about it, except for the families left behind.

See the faces of the innocent at http://www.kristieslaw.org/indexhome.htm

The Brown family are in my prayers. Mr. Brown's friends and family really tell the story about Mr. Brown's life. He deserved to be protected. One day people will realize that police chases don't keep us safe.