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

[Gypsiyee]

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"?

I'm not really going to get into a whole lot of details and Im certainly *not* defending this woman almost ENTIRELY based on the fact that she had a child in the car - but high speed chases are definitely not always warranted, nor does the person being chased always have something to hide. My best friend was killed in one when she was only 15 years old - you tell me any 15 year old that deserves to be chased to her death without any weapon or any threat to anyone and I'll respond with what a douche the cop is.

[Gaazy]

Sorry about you're best friend Gyps, that sucks pretty damn bad that you and her family had to go through that...

But why the fuck did she run. Unless there's some missing facts that I don't know about, like mental illness for example (NOT saying she had a mental illness and belittling your friend, just an example), it doesn't take that much brainpower to realize when you see the blue lights, to pull the fuck over. In my eyes, the person fleeing is putting people in danger just as much as the "douche" cop is, if not more. Agree to disagree I reckon.

[Durothil Skyreaver]

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

Just tell the cop you got there as fast as you could.

[Lueyen]

Until 2001 under Texas law evading police in a motor vehicle was a Class A misdemeanor. Legislation in 2001 made it a state jail felony (the lowest form of felony) with a min 180 days in jail, maximum of 2 years and a possible fine of up to 10 grand.

Two years jail time hardly seems appropriately proportional to the level of public risk everyone is talking about. Perhaps if states made the penalties for this sort of action comparable to say attempted man slaughter or the like then those who feel running is the best option when they have no real reason to run would not do so.

The prudent response to any crime is not to stop police from catching the perpetrator, but to make the punishment fit the crime.

Gypsiyee I'm sorry your friend died at such a young age, it certainly doesn't sound like she deserved to. This may seem crass and I'm sorry for that, but she died as a direct result of her decisions and actions, blaming the police is shifting the personal responsibility from where it actually lies. (unless of course you left out details like she tried to stop and surrender and the officer ran her over, or rammed her off a cliff after the vehicle was disabled). There is also the matter that in all likely hood at the point and time she tried to out run the police she became a huge threat to public safety, and while a vehicle isn't a traditional weapon, once you are fleeing at high speeds you become more lethal then someone with a firearm or knife.

[Arlos]

As I said before, I think for a lot of people, running like that is a matter of temporary insanity. I don't think it's even a conscious decision. I mean, someone who's done nothing wrong, running for a busted tail light or something? Not the act of someone who's in their right mind. Once a chase starts, adrenaline gets pumping big time, and just reinforces that initial reaction.

Sure, letting people just run is not ideal, but unless the object of the chase is truly worth it, then the risks far far outweigh the potential benefits, I think.

-Arlos

[Yamori]

To play the devil's advocate - I'd guess that a decent number of people flooring it if they get pulled over *are* guilty of something that basically equates to "cop seeing inside of car = game over."

"Getting to them later" doesn't really help if the person they pulled over for a busted tail-light has 12 kidnapped babies or a chopped up hooker's corpse in their trunk. D:

I don't know what my view is on it, since it definitely is unneccessarily dangerous for those times it turns out to be a petty offense - but fleeing from a routine stop is pretty good probable cause.

[Gypsiyee]

Sorry about you're best friend Gyps, that sucks pretty damn bad that you and her family had to go through that...

But why the fuck did she run. Unless there's some missing facts that I don't know about, like mental illness for example (NOT saying she had a mental illness and belittling your friend, just an example), it doesn't take that much brainpower to realize when you see the blue lights, to pull the fuck over. In my eyes, the person fleeing is putting people in danger just as much as the "douche" cop is, if not more. Agree to disagree I reckon.

To briefly summarize, she'd taken her grampas car out.. her and her bf had just broken up and she was upset, grampa calls the cops and says I want to report my car stolen, but it's really not, it's my granddaughter who has it I just want to scare her, if she doesn't pull over let it be I'll deal with it later - they knew it was a 15 year old in the car. She sees the lights and she's a kid.. she'd been through heaps in her life and associated with bad shit because her mom was a POS crack whore so she immediately thinks that if she pulls over she's going to get in some insane trouble.. she doesn't pull over because she doesn't want to risk going to jail or something - she only had her permit and the person she was with was 17 so not quite of age to drive with her permit.. again, she's 15 and a scared kid, but the officer knew exactly who was in the car and that he wasn't to pursue it further if she didn't pull over as it was made very clear that she was no threat and that it was a kid driving the car.. they proceeded to try and pursue her up to something like 112 mph in a 35 putting tons of people at risk until she tried to turn and her car flipped and dragged her face down an entire street of pavement - she couldn't have an open casket funeral because her face was so demolished. the only way to identify her was the fact that she had no belly button (let me reiterate, her mom was a crack whore - she was born with her intestines on the wrong side of her body and had to get surgery to correct it, which is why she had no belly button.)

I'm not saying she wasn't in the wrong by not stopping, but it's DEFINITELY not something she deserved to die for. If the officers thought she was a threat maybe, but they knew exactly who she was and the exact details of the situation and they chose to be superheroes and kill a teenager. In a situation like that I don't see any need to continue to chase and not just leave it be and contact the person later - they had all the details of the car, knew where to find her and where she lived, knew all of it to a t based on what Grampa had told them - teenagers make mistakes, an adult officer trained in situations like this should be smart enough to know when enough is enough and that he/she is putting innocents in danger, imo.

[Jay]

Not to degrade the memory of your friend or anything, but the fact remains she was driving wihtout a proper license and the cops were doing their job. It's not like they were like omg 15 year old! Let's go over a 100 to capture this threat to society! They were going after a person who was resisting arrest and it resulted in a total freak accident. Yes she has a shitty upbringing, yes she was in a shit situation, yes she was afraid just like anyone her age who has to confront cops. Still, she had to go 112 for the cops to pursue her at 112. She made the choice, the cops responded to it. She put everyone in danger by resisting arrest and the cops had to try to detain her because she's is driving, fast, and not experienced enough to be doing that especially in an emotional state. Hell no she didn't deserve to die for that, but she's accountable, not the cops.

It's unfortunate that her life's situations didn't prepare her to make the proper decision on that and by that I wouldn't blame her for thinking like that, but I wouldn't blame the cops for responding how they did either. It resulted in her death which is terrible, but what if there were some kids further down the road whose lives were spared because the cops gave chase? Also, what if the cops tried to pull her over, she sped off when she saw the lights, the cops let her go, then she hit and killed a kid? The cops would be accountable for letting that happen and not doing anything to prevent it. Regardless, it was a lose lose situation. Nothing was gonna stop that situation from being shitty.

[Lueyen]

As I said before, I think for a lot of people, running like that is a matter of temporary insanity.

-Arlos

Lets just say for a moment I buy that for a moment, if someone is prone to temporary insanity triggered by an attempt of an officer to pull them over wouldn't that suggest they aren't competent enough to be driving? I'd think at the very least this would be justification enough to revoke their license until such time as they were cleared by a psychologist who by the way would be held accountable in some shape or form if the persons license was reinstated and they ran from police a second time.

Gypsiyee your further explanation on your friends death shows just how horrible the circumstances were. I agree she absolutely didn't deserve what happened.

There is something about that story I'd like to point out as I don't think people take it into consideration often times. When you report someone for any sort of crime there are cases that even if the only victim is you and you refuse to press charges, the state/DA will still prosecute them.
And if the crime is something public such as the case here (not driving under the restrictions on her permit, and then running from the police), often times, in fact most of the time, the law won't allow for you to dictate the penalties.

It doesn't even have to be the case of an officer with a "Judge Dredd" type bullshit mentality, because should they choose to not enforce the law if some injury to someone else's health or property occurs then the officer could conceivably be found liable, welcome to our sue happy society.

[Gaazy]

Again, that sucks Gyps, and sorry you had to deal with that. Like Lue said, those were some shitty cirumstances, I dont think they could have been much worse. And no way she deserved to die like that. But the cops were doin their job.