Public should get answers to fatal police chases
Something is terribly wrong, or is it just a spate of tragic misfortune?
Three fatal civilian crashes involving high-speed state police car chases in a month in Fayette County. Maybe state officials should launch an investigation.
Here are some questions they may want to ask: What was so urgent that police gave chance in the first place? Do these reasons make sense in light of the fact that innocent lives were sacrificed? Have any troopers been reprimanded, placed on probation, been called to account in any way?
As for the latter, you’re guess is as good as mine. The state police silence has been loud and clear, and alarming. As a public agency — one authorized to carry guns — police have an obligation to be transparent in these and other matters.
Heck, they have an obligation to be doubly transparent.
And it doesn’t matter if remedies are underway behind the scenes. There needs to be a public accounting. Accountability is everything.
What do we know so far?
We know the names of the dead, two of whom were bystanders — drivers who were in the wrong place at the wrong time.
They were: Erik Yannitelli, a 22-year-old chef from Farmington whose deadly crash occurred at Route 40 and Rankin Road; Lynn Miller, 57, who was returning home from shopping when she was struck by a speeding police cruiser on Bute Road in North Union Township; and Andre Smith, an African-American high school senior. Andre died at a street corner in downtown Brownsville. Of the three, he was only one who was actually being chased by police at the time of his death.
We know the names of the charged. One is Jonathan Michael Switch, a 23-year-old from McClellandtown. Switch allegedly led police on the chase down Bute Road. He faces a homicide charge; presumably he was some distance from the spot in the road where trooper Scott Abbott rammed into Lynn Miller, who was turning her Mitsubishi onto Lower Oliver 3 Road, seemingly unaware that Abbott was closing in on her.
We also know that Christopher Kemp, charged in connection with Erik Yannitelli’s death, was driving with a suspended license; that Switch’s license had been suspended; and that Andre Smith was presumably carrying a weapon, though his parents dispute that. He had been arguing with his girlfriend, whom he was following.
These are crimes — at least the first two — of a relatively low order, yet police pursued their prey as if they were full-blown felons.
Mark Priano lives across the country from Pennsylvania, in Chico, Calif., where he and his wife Candy founded PursuitSAFETY, a non-profit, following the 2002 death of their 15-year-old daughter Kristie.
Kristie was in the back passenger seat of the family car when a vehicle driven by another 15-year-old piled into the Prianos.
In rapid pursuit of the non-licensed teen driver was a city of Chico police car.
One of the things that really bothers Mark is that police knew the identity of the girl they were chasing. And they knew where she lived. What was their hurry?
Mark Priano noted that a third of the dead in police chases nationwide are innocent bystanders, like his daughter, like Lynn Miller, like Erik Yannitelli.
Since 1979, more than 15,000 lives have been lost in police chases. In many instances, police were pursing minor offenders.
Mark said authorities frequently write off the dead as “collateral damage.” He takes exception to the terminology police and the press frequently use to describe the incidents themselves.
“They are not accidents,” he told me. “They are crashes.”
In regard to police, four matters are at issue, Priano said: policy, training, supervision, accountability.
As for the first, way too many police departments have no policy when it comes to determining when to give chase. A willy-nilly “split second decision” doesn’t make the grade, Priano said. Instead, departments should adopt a policy that would shut down most high-speed pursuits.
Police should rev their engines only in pursuit of dangerous criminals, Priano said. Felons only.
In addition, police need more driver training. Typically, the amount of training they receive behind the wheel pales in comparison to the training they get at the firing range.
Proper supervision involves being able to communicate in real-time with superiors back at headquarters. On the accountability front, Priano was very specific: all police chase deaths should be subject to a third-party investigation.
Let me add: the results need to be made public. Ideally, the investigation should include an open hearing, maybe in the form of a coroner’s inquest.
A final word, to our state legislators: this matter needs your urgent attention. Delay could mean the difference between life and death to some innocent, unsuspecting driver who has the misfortune to get in the middle of a fleeing driver and police.
Richard Robbins lives in Uniontown and is the author of two books — “Grand Salute: Stories of the World War II Generation” and “Our People.” He can be reached at grandsalutebook@gmail. com.