Mom's 110-mph run from cops ends in baby's death

[Scatillac]

ALVARADO, Texas -- A woman led police on a 25-mile high speed chase until she crashed into a concrete median, killing her 9-month-old daughter in the collision, authorities said.

Alexxus Riza was thrown Friday night from the SUV, which rolled several times under an Interstate 35 overpass, said Trooper Dub Gillum of the Texas Department of Public Safety. The vehicle struck a traffic light before hitting the concrete barrier, officials said.

Aimee Andrea Riza, 36, of Keene, sustained minor injuries and was charged with manslaughter, evading arrest, resisting arrest and reckless driving, Gillum said.

"She was combative after the crash when they tried to extract her out of the vehicle," he said. "The officers had to wrestle her to get her under control."

A motorist had called the Somervell County Sheriff's Department to report a reckless driver. When Riza refused to stop, authorities chased her through two counties at speeds up to 110 mph, Gillum said.

Authorities used spikes, tried to block intersections ahead and backed off the SUV hoping it would slow down. But Riza continued to drive until she crashed, traveling on the rims after the SUV's tires were deflated, Gillum said.


This is nuts, anyone would put their child's life in danger needs to be shot, and the fact that the girl is dead sickens me. Big Brother should implement some kind of regulation on having children, not only limit the population growth, but make sure that the children that are born, are raised properly, so they grow up contributing to society, and not end up behind bars.

In my neighborhood over the last couple of years, many of the old people have died off, making way for younger people with kids. The neighborhood was very quiet, but now there are 10-14 year olds running around at 1 in the morning with no shoes on screaming and yelling.

3 nights ago my girlfriends car was broken into and 300 of her cds were stolen, weve never even had to lock the doors at night the place was so peaceful, but now its like a ghetto. Kids have no direction, parents work full time so they are unsupervised. And they are all turning into a bunch of drug addicts. Last night there were 2 naked 12 year old girls wrestling in my front yard, pulling each others hair over some guy that was laughing at them with his buddies. This world is going to hell, fast.

[Spazz]

Maybe the police shouldnt be allowed to engage in high speed chases unless they are sure they have carlos the jackyl in thier sights. With helicopters and other toys there is no reason the police should be tearin ass after just some fool. SIckens me when people die in high speed chases and theres barely a crime to warrent the chase.

[Lueyen]

You don't like cops much do you spazz?

[Harrison]

He doesn't like it when the man is keeping him down. Most people grow out of that, some don't.

[Spazz]

I think the risk out weighs reward when chasing petty criminals through the middle of suburbia. Has nothing to do with the man keeping me down or growing up. In my day to day I pass several places with stuffed animals taped to road signs. Want to guess what killed the people they are there to remind us of ?


The mans not keeping me down Im still alive and doin fine. The man does however pass a lot of insane laws that are in place to collect money or keep certain parts of the population down. Thats another problem all together and the police play the smallest role in that. I dont like or dislike cops . I hate unjust laws .

[The Kizzy]

KILL WHITEY

[Spazz]

The fuck is wrong with you people. I wasnt acting like a little kid or saying fuck the man. All Im saying is for the cops to go full blast through a densely populated area is really asking for something bad to happen.

[Lyion]

Maybe the police shouldnt be allowed to engage in high speed chases unless they are sure they have carlos the jackyl in thier sights. With helicopters and other toys there is no reason the police should be tearin ass after just some fool. SIckens me when people die in high speed chases and theres barely a crime to warrent the chase.

I believe some parts of California have this law in effect.

Police are overzealous and very draconian in many regards, and somehow this has been given many places blessings. In this regard, an infant died. What did this woman do that required such dangerous pursuit?

The nature of the police is to serve and protect. Somehow for many in law enforcement that has been subverted to a Judge Dredd type of overview where the law and enforcing it is what matters.

The methods and means used by a wide array of cops has moved away from 'To Serve and To protect' and is a bit too far from what we should expect in America.

More accountability for law enforcement is needed at almost every level.

[Gaazy]

Uhh I would think that when someone starts to run like that from the cops, that means they must be REALLY wantin to hide something, therefore, they deserved to be pulled over and checked. Running from them should be reason enough to be chased. How can you even try to bring this on the cops? You mean to tell me if you were a cop and tried to pull someone over and they just ran off at 110 in a crowded area youd just think "oh, i guess I will let them go then"?

[10sun]

You can outrun a cop car, but you can't outrun a Motorola... unless they didn't get your plate #.

[Markarado]

It is an individual's choice to run from the cops; therefore warranting a chase. I don't believe the suspects safety should be a concern. On the other hand, there is a very high chance of innocent people being put in harms way as a result. Because of this I have to agree that cops should use more tactical approaches to catching these people. The problem is that these other approaches can be extremely costly (helicopters, satelites, etc..).

[Tossica]

Cops should not give high speed chase unless they are quite certain the person is wanted. If they get the license plate number, they can show up at the persons home and arrest them at a later date.

[Darcler]

Ok, the news said this lady was no wanted, had no offenses, they were pulling her over for something minor, I dont remember. When she wouldnt stop, she was officially breaking a bigger law and should be stopped. She could be doing something more illegal and highly dangerous and is running to keep from being found out.
They used spikes to slow her down, she STILL was going 100 on rims. They backed off of her, she chose to keep going 100.
I'm sickened that she put her baby's life in danger and ultimately killed her, but it was HER choice, not the police's. The cops did NOT press down on her gas pedal

[Tossica]

I'm not saying this is the cops fault in any way, I am just saying, I don't think the potential risk of loss of life is worth it in most cases.

[Lueyen]

I guess what floors me is that anyone can look at the OP and what comes to mind is to start questioning police pursuit protocol. While it might not be being said directly, it is insinuated by this that the death of that child was at least in part the police's fault, for if they had not given chase, the accident and resulting death would not have occurred... at least not at that time. Honestly I don't hold out much hope for a child who's mother takes the actions she did especially under the circumstances. She is either insane or stupid, putting herself, her baby, the police officer(s) and countless others in so much danger to apparently avoid a ticket.

Take the same logic and apply it to someone who shoots at police, because of the danger that they or the perpetrator might hit an innocent person in a fire fight, should the police just leave the scene?

As far as license plates and helicopters go there are all kinds of holes in that idea. First of all the reason the person is running is it might be a stolen vehicle that hasn't been reported yet. There is no way for an officer to know who the driver is for certain if the person doesn't stop. Costs aside on helicopters, they have to be available, and likely airborne and even then if the officer does not give chase it's unlikely the helicopter would be able to acquire the vehicle. Radios you have the same situation, as the moment the vehicle is out of sight, the driver can ditch the vehicle.. and again if it was recently stolen who knows.

Lyion as far as "protect and serve", yes there are police out there that have big egos and operate with a draconian mindset.... but that is not the norm. The perception that it is or that it's common is a problem rooted in another area. It isn't Mayberry anymore. Those men and women put their lives on the line every single day, every traffic stop. What's worse is the general respect that was once given to officers is gone. People "know their rights" and "pay their wages", and often times anything they can get away with they do or say. Not only do they have to make cautious determinations as to if the person they have stopped is going to try and kill them, but they often times have to put up with the attitude of an asshole. It's a thankless high risk job, that quite frankly doesn't pay worth a shit for what's required, and it's showing. Many places are having trouble finding police officers to replace those who retire ect. Even if someone would find a great deal of satisfaction in the job, that today isn't enough for the headache and danger.

Of the times I've dealt with being pulled over (granted it's not that many but still) I've on one occasion dealt with an officer that had an attitude. My reaction will always be the same regardless, it's "yes sir/mam" ect. In the end if the officer is going beyond their authority or violating your rights you will NOT win during a traffic stop, you'll only make a bad situation worse. If you want to fight the cop, then do so in a court room because there you can win.. along side the road you can't.

Andy Griffin doesn't exist most of the time because Mayberry doesn't exist most of the time. Less friendly more aggressive officers are a product of the streets which are today less friendly and more aggressive then they were in the past.

The best thing the generally law abiding public can do is to get rid of the double standard mindset. Quit thinking of the police as the bad guys when they give you a speeding ticket when you'd turn around and blame them for not stopping someone else who habitually speeds and ends up causing an accident, one which might involve the death of a loved one someday.

And yes this is a sore spot with me, and not because I've ever worn that uniform, but because I've gotten to know at least a few officers in every community I've lived in and the vast majority of them are good people trying to do a good job with one hand tied against sometimes impossible odds.

[Spazz]

Police are overzealous and very draconian in many regards, and somehow this has been given many places blessings. In this regard, an infant died. What did this woman do that required such dangerous pursuit?

The nature of the police is to serve and protect. Somehow for many in law enforcement that has been subverted to a Judge Dredd type of overview where the law and enforcing it is what matters.

The methods and means used by a wide array of cops has moved away from 'To Serve and To protect' and is a bit too far from what we should expect in America.

More accountability for law enforcement is needed at almost every level.

I barely say anything and get ragged on for raging against the machine yet lyion can spit that out and not get a peep. Fuck you guys.

[Trielelvan]

Police have to mcuh power and abuse it to shit to much and lots of people just say more power to em but this time it killed a kid and what did the mom do to deserve it? There supposed to help and protect us but they don't do nothing but push people how they pleaz even if that means kill a bitch for speedin.
Fuck the police.

That's because it would have come out sounding a lot more like *points up*

[Lueyen]

Sorry spazz, my first post in the thread wasn't meant to take a shot at you, or open the field for others to do so. My rant was definitely not directed solely at you, some of it was I'm sure, but just how much I don't know because I'm not going to make to many assumptions as to how much of the mindset I described is reflective of your own thoughts.

And if you'll notice I did address Lyion directly about half way through... he should probably be feeling more persecuted then you .

[10sun]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjMLZuuXDRQ

[Lueyen]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjMLZuuXDRQ

lol interesting enough, the one incident I was referring to where the officer went overboard was when I was a teen and yes he searched my car (yes I gave permission).

[Evermore]

You can outrun a cop car, but you can't outrun a Motorola... unless they didn't get your plate #.

Helecopters help too

[Gaazy]

Ive had I think 8 speeding tickets since I was 16, and Ive never had a single one have points against my license. Just be nice and polite, no matter how bad you want to be a fucking smart ass, and most of the time they will help you out and drop it down to not hurt you too bad

[Lyion]

Ive had I think 8 speeding tickets since I was 16, and Ive never had a single one have points against my license. Just be nice and polite, no matter how bad you want to be a fucking smart ass, and most of the time they will help you out and drop it down to not hurt you too bad

Sure, and thats a valid point.

However, in this case a post partum woman flips out, and decides to do the Mario Andretti thing and is possibly suffering from a paranoid delusion. She's probably looking at the cops in the rear view mirror and doing the Dori from Finding Nemo thing and freaking out even more

So, if the cops back off, follow her with a copter and do not press the issue, we have a safer overall situation, a better probability of the child not being killed, and the outcome still results with her being caught.

Unfortunately the idiot cop behavior of attacking its citizens because a law was violated seems not only to be allowed, but encouraged. I'm sorry, I just think it's a bad setup and there should be a better solution.

[Gaazy]

Oh, sir, I was just saying that being nice goes a lot further than being a jackass with them, didnt mean to make that sound related that to the dumbshit cunt that killed her kid.

[Lyion]

The problem here is the cops are here to serve you. Being polite is nice, but in some bizarre twisted way people need to be more polite than those whose salaries they pay. This is not only bad, but wrong.

We need a better code and internal enforcement of police behavior. I see way too many examples of cop behavior that would do the Gestapo proud, and it is utter and complete bullshit. I personally would put a camera on every cop so that every single move they make is auditable.

Traffic enforcement is the tip of the iceberg and the rules of engagement for law enforcement need to be clarified and the roles of police need to be laid out so we do not see 110 mph chases through long stretches of land endangering everyone around for no valid or good reason.