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 virtually hit a phone pole and at last stopped once 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, reviews 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 velocity hump at virtually 100 mph, in line with dashcam footage of the chase shared on-line. The automobile got here clattering again all the way down to earth after the leap, virtually hitting a phone pole and doing a little severe 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 properly in extra of the posted restrict. In the end, the motive force acquired away, as CarScoops provides:
Shumate audibly reacts and barely avoids hitting a phone pole. Shortly thereafter, he realizes he has an issue. “It’s acquired fairly a spot on me, I feel I broke my oil pan,” Shumate says. In response to 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 velocity restrict to catch them.
The perp acquired away, the automobile was badly broken leaving legislation enforcement with a expensive 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 velocity police chases, whether or not it’s cops chasing drivers evading visitors stops like this, or officers pursuing doubtlessly stolen automobiles in reverse down busy highways. Not often do these sorts of tales finish in a profitable arrest, and as a substitute they typically lead to extreme property harm and even the dying of harmless bystanders.
The Division of Transportation reviews that there are roughly 250,000 excessive velocity chases within the U.S. yearly and between 6,000 and eight,000 of these finish in crashes, reviews the Florida Division of Legislation 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 just lately acquired approval for a $5.8 million buy of 150 new automobiles 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 a invoice of $240 million to interchange them.
Then there’s the harm to personal property that may happen. A 2022 report from Pennsylvania Police discovered that the typical harm per high-speed chase amounted to roughly $404 for the police, $774 for the violators and a ridiculous $913 for uninvolved folks.
On high of that, harmless bystanders might discover themselves on the receiving finish of a hefty medical invoice as properly, as Florida police add that shut to five,000 folks decide up accidents in police chases yearly. That’s earlier than you get to the one in 500 chases that tragically result in the dying of an individual.
There needs to be a greater strategy to ticket a rushing driver than this present marketing campaign of dying and destruction.
