There's been another tragedy in Christchurch overnight with an elderly couple killed. Their car was struck by an unlicenced, unregistered car driven through a red light by a driver fleeing the police. Of course, both major news sources paint a different picture; the Herald's headline reads Two dead in police pursuit crash in Christchurch, whilst Stuff says Two dead after police chase.
We get sick of this. The police did NOT cause these deaths, but they will inevitably be blamed for having dared to chase the car driven by a disqualified driver who is reported as being "well known to Christchurch police". The driver failed to stop for police who clocked him doing 89km in a 50km zone.
We agree 100% with Christchurch police area commander Malcolm Johnston who is quoted thus in the Herald:
"Blame for this tragedy lies entirely with this driver. He was signalled to stop and he should have stopped." Mr Johnston said he had spoken with the officers involved and they were devastated.
Mr Johnston nails it. Police are sworn to uphold the law; conversely the driver involved in this incident, a disqualified driver, has made a number of conscious decisions to break the law. It's not hard to determine where the REAL blame for this senseless loss of life lies.
UPDATE: Here's the link to the interview with Malcom Johnston on Breakfast this morning; our sympathies go out to the families of the victims of this act of stupidity, and to the police officers who had to witness it, powerless to stop it happening - arohanui.
6 comments:
I agree.
Even the breakfast interview contained an element of criticisim of the police "chase".
It irritates me beyond belief that the guys, i.e the police who have to pick up the peices after one of these incidents always get a hard time from the media after these incidents.
Without wishing to prejudge matters the oxygen thief who was driving the car should prepare himself for s stint in Paparoa or Addington Prisons.
Inv2 and Alex - I support what you say 100%.
'what if' the fleeing driver had killed his parents in the crash (not accident) with the other car, rather than some random oldies out and about?
If this piece of dogshit gets out of intensive care (and it would be so hard for me not to trip over the power supply if I was working there) how about we do a little experiment to test just how bullet proof the little towrag actually is.
A .308 at 20 meters should be a good test.
Why do the lamestream media keep referring to the "police pursuit" when it is actually an escape from the law. FFS no rego, no WOF driven by a disqualified driver attempting to go through a red light result two innocents dead. If that is not at the very least manslaughter then declare the little bastard insane and put him in a secure unit for the rest of his natural.
These things are irritating beyond belief. I understand family grief, but I recall one occasion where the sister of the deceased driver thought it was "common sense" to make all sorts of impossible assessments before starting a chase that had finished before it had begun.
But I always refer to the chase in the states where the police discovered a kidnap victim in the boot. By not giving up on that chase, a serial killer was captured, and many lives were saved.
Fact is, running from the police is a crime, and too often is prima facie evidence of another crime. We get into dangerous territory when we insist the police don't investigate crimes right under their nose.
It would seem that the fleeing sh*t had his seatbelt on... pity.
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