By: greensboro.com
Kandace Green hugs Elizabeth Gallimore during a vigil held at the scene of a fatal crash for the two victims, Alyssa Bolick, 29, and Stephanie Louise Warshauer, 32, who were riding in a car that was hit by a driver in a stolen car being pursued by a sheriff’s deputy Sept. 30 in Greensboro. H. Scott Hoffmann/News & Record
Guilford County Sheriff BJ Barnes made a good decision to revise his department’s pursuit policy. Better practices might save lives.
Barnes agreed to review the policy after a horrible crash claimed five lives on the night of Sept. 30. A reportedly stolen car with three occupants fled from a sheriff’s deputy at high speed, ran a red light at Battleground Avenue and New Garden Road and struck a vehicle containing two young women. All were killed.
In the wake of that horrific incident, Barnes insisted his deputy had “no choice” when he decided to pursue the fleeing car, even though motor vehicle theft was the only suspected offense.
“The officer knew the car was stolen but did not know if the occupants had just committed a shooting or an armed robbery where lives were placed in danger and, if let go, would commit other crimes. He had an obligation to find out,” Barnes wrote in a letter published by the News & Record Oct. 19.
If that was the sheriff’s thinking, then officers were obliged to chase virtually everyone since any suspect potentially could have just committed a serious violent crime or be on his way to do so. That is not the policy of Greensboro or High Point police, however.
Then, in a news release dated Oct. 26, Barnes wrote that “choosing not to pursue vehicles only emboldens criminals to commit more crimes.”
Yet, the same release reported that, during the pursuit, while the suspects continued to accelerate, the deputy slowed from a top speed of 128 mph to 106 mph and was braking just before the crash — indicating that he was concerned about continuing the chase. Would the decision to let the suspects get away embolden criminals to commit more crimes? Or was it a prudent action under the circumstances?
Pressed by the families of Stephanie Warshauer and Alyssa Bolick, the young women killed, to reconsider his policy, Barnes did. The new policy “strongly and further emphasizes the public safety factors” that must be considered before officers initiate a chase, the sheriff said. And it requires further training for officers on measures they can take to avoid a chase or to end one quickly.
“They’ve gone from ‘chase chase chase’ to ‘stop and think,’ and I’ve got to give them credit,” said Drew Brown, a Greensboro attorney representing the Warshauer and Bolick families.
Brown’s clients deserve credit, too. Their desire to see a positive change come from the pain of their loss is commendable. If the deaths of their daughters and siblings can lead to better decisions in the future, maybe other families can be spared the same grief.
The sheriff still defends his former policy but found room for improvement. Based on his past statements about “no choice” and the “obligation” to pursue, it seemed that officers weren’t allowed much room for judgment. So “stop and think” is a step forward.
Unfortunately, criminals often don’t stop and think. The sheriff also wants to see a mandatory prison sentence as a deterrent to anyone who would speed to elude arrest. That would be warranted, although most offenders might run because they’re already likely to go to prison if they’re stopped. Finding ways to arrest them without setting off a chase would assure better outcomes.
To be clear, the tragic crash on Sept. 30 was brought about because an irresponsible driver recklessly sped away from a law-enforcement officer. That person, not the sheriff’s deputy, killed everyone in the collision.
But the question is whether pursuit is justified when the only known offense is car theft, or whether other measures are sometimes more advisable. If the new policy gives greater consideration to other actions, terrible accidents will be less likely.