Were police wrong in this situation?
Sometimes police officers go from one potentially dangerous situation to another in a flash. We see in this video Arkansas State Police Trooper M. Hernandez go from wrapping up a traffic stop with a young man to chasing down a speeder with their emergency flashers activated. He ended up doing a PIT on the driver when she failed to pull over, only to find the woman was apparently rushing her dying mother to the hospital.
Suspect whines for his mommy after getting the PIT.
People tend to think activating their emergency flashers gives them the same rights and privileges as a police officer with their emergency lights activated. This would explain why people park in fire lines with their lights flashing or do other things they’re not supposed to with those things turned on. Apparently, this woman thought this was a clear signal to the trooper that she didn’t need to pull over.
Nobody wants to be in a life-or-death situation, but we might find ourselves facing one at some point. It’s not uncommon for people to panic and rush a dying loved one to the hospital like a bat flying out of hell, even though the emergency doesn’t justify driving like a maniac. Quite likely, this woman wasn’t thinking straight, but what she did could’ve resulted in a crash where more than her mother were on the brink of death.
The big question is why she didn’t call 911 first? We don’t know what was going through her mind, but usually if someone is experiencing a life-threatening medical situation that’s the first option to exercise.
Perhaps she didn’t want to wait for an ambulance to arrive, believing those precious moments could possibly be her mother’s last. That’s fair, but the moment she saw a police officer with his lights on she should’ve pulled over, told the cop her mother was dying and she was rushing her to the hospital. In that situation she would’ve had a police escort to the hospital instead of getting a PIT for fleeing, then explaining the situation.
Why so many in society today believe the rules don’t apply to them when they’re in an emergency is beyond us. If a cop tries to pull you over, even if you have someone in the car who’s dying, you pull over and immediately explain the situation.
Everyone can debate whether they think the trooper was right to PIT a fleeing suspect or not. They can also debate if the woman was acting rationally. But the whole situation would’ve gone far different had she just pulled over immediately and explained what was happening. Instead, they fled then screamed hysterically after getting the PIT.
Watch the dashcam footage for yourself.
