Police chases not worth risk of tragedy

by Margery Eagan
Boston Globe Columnist

"Here's yet another question: would you prefer someone driving through Boston erratically at 40 mph, or chased by police, at 70 or 80 mph?"

    May 31, 2007  Explain this, please: Because about 100 children a year are abducted and killed by strangers, we have totally revamped American childhood. Good parents won't even let children in the back yard alone.
  Yet at least that many innocent Americans, including children (some estimate two or three times as many) are killed every year in police chases. And every time I've written a column asking if these chases are worth it, the response is the same.
    Surely I am insane.
    Really?

Two innocent bystanders killed; one permanently injured
    The latest police chase tragedy came early Sunday morning when Javier Morales, 29, refused to stop for a state trooper in Everett. Morales made an illegal left turn off Route 16. He had no license and feared jail time for a previous no-license arrest.
    Perhaps if he faced greater jail time for refusing to stop for police a penalty many have proposed to reduce these chases Morales, weighing his options, would have made a different choice. To stop.
    As it was, Trooper Joseph Kalil chased Morales stolen SUV from Everett to Somerville's Davis Square, where Morales plowed into a cab driven by Walid Chahine, 45, a husband and father. In the backseat were musician Paul Farris, 23, and his girlfriend Katelyn Hoyt. Hoyt and Chahine [Walid Chahine died at the hospital.] are at Mass. General, critically injured. Farris is dead.
    The fourth victim: Trooper Kalil, who must live with what happened for the rest of his days.
    So why is it that state police here, and in many other states, chase traffic violators at all? Boston police don't. Neither do police in many other big cities, in part because of the risk of multimillion-dollar lawsuits. Boston's pursuit standards are higher than those followed by state police: Boston is supposed to chase only violent or dangerous suspects or those driving erratically, possibly because of drugs or alcohol.
    Here's yet another question: would you prefer someone driving through Boston erratically at 40 mph, or chased by police, at 70 or 80 mph?
    One more question: Why do we assume that chasing even dangerous criminals is always worth the risk of maiming or killing a pedestrian or family in a minivan?

Myth vs. Fact
    The myth, by the way, is that police typically or even regularly chase the dangerous, that there's a dead body in the trunk, says Geoffrey Alpert of the University of South Carolina, who has studied police pursuits since 1983.
    The fact is, between 75 and 80 percent of chases occur after moving violations, says Alpert. They're mostly young kids who've made stupid decisions. The more powerful tool for police? Turn off the lights and siren and it's more likely the suspect will slow down.
    I guess the idea of letting the bad guy get away seems un-American. Perhaps, too, the car chase is too rooted in American legend, from The French Connection to O.J. to whatever live police pursuit Fox and MSNBC can find and broadcast.
    And perhaps politicians don't want to buck police. And then there's adrenaline: If you've heard a chase on a police radio, you know want I'm talking about.
    Yesterday Pearl Allen, a retired music and Afro-American studies teacher at John D. O'Bryant School, said what many say who lose family to police pursuits. That if police hadn't chased, her grandson would still be alive.
    Quentin Osbourne, once a standout for the Boston Raiders Pop Warner team, was 15 when he was ejected from a Hyundai Elantra he and six friends had piled into.
    The 16-year-old unlicensed driver ran a stop sign. Police chased. He drove into a brick wall.
    They were just kids, his grandmother said. (The police) put on the flashing blue light. I think the driver got scared and sped away, and they just kept chasing until they crashed.

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Tufts alum Paul Farris dies at 23

Fatal crash in Somerville ends life of 2006 graduate, musician

Rob Silverblatt  Tufts Daily > News

An avid music enthusiast, he was the lead singer of the respected indie band theMark, which is comprised of almost entirely of Tufts alumni. Members of the group came together while at Tufts, and in 2004 they won the Battle of the Bands and earned the right to open at the Spring Fling concert that was headlined by The Roots.

Jordan DeLiso (LA '07), theMark's drummer, said that Farris was the key to the band's success. "We got most of our energy from Paul because the singer is the frontman in [a] band whether they acknowledge it or not, and he took that position even off-stage," he said.

DeLiso remembers Farris as a truly inspirational and welcoming person who drew from a wide range of sources to write intelligent music. "[He was] constantly thinking, analyzing everything and you can really tell that in his lyrics," he said. "Nobody I know wrote or sang like he did. His lyrics were basically like his thoughts on the world turned into a story involving mythical characters and references to Dante and all that stuff," DeLiso said.

He said that these lyrics translated into rousing performances. "It was beautiful watching him just totally go nuts on stage and be so into what he was about and what he was singing," DeLiso said.

Apart from his role in his band, during his senior year at Tufts Farris was also the chair of AppleJam, a student group that brings concerts to campus.

Rising junior Daniel Stern, who served as a co-chair for AppleJam this past year, echoed DeLiso's thoughts, referring to his predecessor "an incredibly nice guy" who was "very passionate about music."

University President Lawrence Bacow called Farris' death the tragic end to a promising life. "It is always difficult to lose someone so young and so talented. And to lose him so senselessly only compounds the tragedy," he said in an e-mail to the Daily. "Our hearts and prayers go out to his family and friends."

The car chase that led to Farris' death began when a state trooper spotted Javier Morales, 29, of Somerville, cutting off traffic in Everett.

When the trooper tried to pull Morales over, he allegedly sped away, following a route that brought him into Davis Square and onto College Avenue. Jessica LeBlanc, Morales' pregnant girlfriend, was in the car with him. The chase ended when Morales slammed into the cab that Farris and his girlfriend Katelyn Hoyt were in at the intersection of Kidder Avenue and Highland Road in Somerville.

According to the Somerville Journal, Morales was driving with a suspended license at the time of the accident, something of he had already been convicted on twice prior to Sunday's accident. He has also been convicted of several other crimes including assault and battery and breaking and entering.

As of Friday morning, Hoyt and taxi driver Walid Chahine were both in critical condition at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), a spokesperson for the hospital's Public Affairs Office told the Daily.

Morales and LeBlanc both survived the crash, and Morales was arraigned in his hospital room at MGH earlier this week.

According to the Boston Globe, he is charged with vehicular homicide and a litany of other offenses related to the incident.

Below is a letter that the Farris family and so many of Paul's friends have sent to legislators and news outlets.  We also have a professionally produced Police Pursuit DVD (linked on YouTube), to elevate the issue of unnecessary police pursuits.

Dear Madam or Sir,

We are writing you about an issue that continues to weigh heavily on our hearts, unnecessary high-speed police chases.  We would be honored if you could just give us several minutes of your time to read this letter and to watch the enclosed 3-minute DVD. We think you'll understand why this is so very important to us and how it may one day directly impact you.

In the early morning hours of May 27, 2007 our son, Paul Farris, died as the result of a truly senseless high-speed police chase in the Boston suburb of Somerville.  Paul and his girlfriend Katelyn were coming home from a night out when an SUV being pursued by the Massachusetts State Police slammed into the taxi in which they were riding.  Paul, who we were told was wearing a seatbelt, was ejected from the taxi and died at the scene; the taxi driver Walid Chahine died a week later, leaving a wife and 4 year old son; Katelyn was severely injured and was unconscious for almost four weeks.  She remained in Massachusetts General Hospital for four months and then continued her rehab with her parents in New York.  Her ongoing physical and emotional recovery is nothing short of miraculous.  This has been an indescribably sorrowful and difficult time for our families and friends.  Most of us will never completely heal from the emotional scars. 

Paul was an amazing 23 year old.  He graduated Magna Cum Laude from Tufts University in 2007 and had been working as an insurance claims adjuster for a year.  He had already taken his LSATs and planned to attend law school in the fall of 2008.  Paul had absolutely everything going for him.  Katelyn had a terrific job at one of Boston's premier spas.  Katelyn had absolutely everything going for her.

Paul Farris is dead

Walid Chahine is dead

Katelyn Hoyt continues her recovery

Because Katelyn was uninsured, MA and NY Medicaid (taxpayers) covered her medical bills which were in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

WHY? Because the police officer made a poor decision.  He pursued a traffic offender through the most densely populated city in all of New England at speeds likely exceeding 70 miles per hour - for a simple traffic offense.  The driver of the SUV was not involved in a felony, had not robbed a store, had not fired a gun, or done anything else that evening that was endangering lives.  Yet the officer, like hundreds of others across the US every single day, decided that a high-speed pursuit was acceptable.  Would that officer or their command have made the same decision if they were held to the same legal standards as ordinary citizens when it comes to causing death or great bodily harm?  Absolutely not.

How big a problem are high speed police pursuits?

• FBI statistics show that 300-500 lives are lost annually as a result of high speed police pursuits.
• In a 9-year period from 1995-2004, 1100 fatalities were innocent victims.
• The majority of police chases are pursuing drivers for minor traffic violations (estimates as high as 83%).
• California reported in 2005 alone there were 7,942 pursuits, 1,153 people injured and 32 killed.
• According to statistics compiled by the NJ Department of Law and Public Safety, there were more than 2,000 police pursuits in the state in 2003, resulting in 538 accidents, 322 people injured and four deaths.
• Of 15 people killed in connection with NJ police chases from 2000 to 2002, seven were drivers or passengers in third-party vehicles who were not the target of the pursuit. 
• Hundreds of police officers themselves have been killed and injured in high speed chases.  In the 2000 to 2002 period in NJ, the statistics show in Hudson and Essex counties more police officers were injured than people in the cars they were pursuing.
• The Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration maintains statistical data regarding vehicular accidents. Unfortunately the statistics are under reported because there are no mandatory forms utilized by states to report fatalities and motor vehicle accidents such as police pursuits. However, from 1982 through 2004, 7,434 people were reported to FARS as being killed in high speed pursuit cases.
• Law officers argue that the option to chase violent criminals is important, and shielding agencies from lawsuits is key in allowing pursuits.  No such valid argument has been made relative to chases instigated due to simple traffic offenses.
• Every state and jurisdiction has different laws and policies relative to pursuits.
• Most pursuits put innocent bystanders at risk, but when those bystanders are injured or killed, the law provides no recourse.
• State and perhaps even Federal laws need to be changed.  Stiffer, mandatory jail sentences for offenders who flee officers as well as the ability for innocent victims to pursue legal recourse against all parties involved in the chase.

The City of Somerville has a very well written and very strict no-pursuit policy because they recognize the danger it poses to their citizens.  Yet throughout the country we see cities, counties and states all having different standards, requirements and policies.  And almost every one of those policies gives the pursuing officer immunity, regardless of the circumstances or location of the pursuit.  So more innocent victims will continue to be killed and maimed until the laws are changed.

Interestingly, the Massachusetts State Police with no announcement or press release quietly changed their pursuit policies less than four months after Paul died.  Additionally, in early 1538 there was police pursuit legislation introduced (two bills) in Massachusetts by State Representatives Christopher Fallon and Brad Hill.  Our voices have already made a difference.  The more voices we add, the more likely we'll achieve additional successes throughout the country.

We need your help and we need your involvement.   Please take a few more minutes, watch our DVD, and think about how you can help stop senseless high speed police pursuits.