Thanks for the detailed reply. Yes, there was a lot left out of the story.
I had only assumed an intersection since the child was thrown from the
vehicle, I figured that the difference in speeds might indicate a lateral
impact (blown tire would allow for that). I don't imagine that frontal or
rear impacts cause a great deal of throwings, except for through the glass,
also missing (but possible) from the story. I didn't know that about
emergency vehicles. I assumed they had legal right-of-way, but implemented
with common sense.
Later
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> -----Original Message-----
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Jon Beets
> Sent: Tuesday, May 15, 2001 18:38
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: Re: 5-year-old girl killed in police chase (salon.com)
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "ganns.com" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> To: "tidepool" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Cc: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Sent: Tuesday, May 15, 2001 11:26 AM
> Subject: Re: 5-year-old girl killed in police chase (salon.com)
>
> > The way I see it there were three people at fault.
> >
> > An auto evading an officer is simply asking for trouble. Have they
> > never seen any of the "compilation of chases" show? I suppose if the
> > slight chance of avoiding a ticket is worth the chance to them.
> >
> > Regardless of the pursuit laws in that area, if the officer was not
> > driving safe enough if he allowed a collision to occur between his
> > car and another vehicle.
>
> Okay as a what if.. So the guy your chasing is doing 70mph thru a
> 45 posted
> speed limit.. What is safe but still able to stay on the pursuit?
>
>
> > I don't know if seatbelt laws are present in every state, but it is
> > common sense to use them. There is no guarantee that the child's
> > life would have been saved, but it was the mother's responsibility to
> > protect her own child until she is old enough to take care of
> > herself.
>
> Texas does have a seatbelt law for minors..
>
> > So, except as noted in #3, the child's death required the actions of
> > all three people. If Junior Earl Jameson is going to be charged in
> > connection with the child's death, then the mother should too. The
> > driver put the child in danger one day, whereas the mother probably
> > was doing it every day. Although emergency vehicles have
> > right-of-way in intersections, I believe they are supposed to stop
> > and make sure it is clear before proceeding. With that, I hold the
> > officer at fault too.
>
> The way most driving laws for emergency vehicles are written.. You as the
> driver of the emergency vehicle are only asking for the right of way. If a
> driver of another vehicle cannot move out of the way then the emergency
> vehicle must yield. The driver of the other vehicle only has to give right
> of way if they can safely. Again in most states responding emergency
> vehicles are supposed to stop at red lights and make sure the all oncoming
> traffic has stopped before proceding.. At the same time I cannot prudently
> see a cop coming to a complete stop chasing someone else traveling alot
> faster than they are... It really comes down to what the situtation
> dictates.. As a firefighter the law permitted me to exceed teh speed limit
> to respond to emergencies but at the same time expected to not go so fast
> that I was out of control.
>
> However I did'nt see any mention of an intersection in the article so how
> can you blame the officer... In fact the entire article lacks a great deal
> of any information so its really unfair to come to any real blame to
> anyone... The mother could have had her child seatbelted and the child
> remove it just before impact or the seatbelt could have failed..
> A tire may
> have blown on one of the vehicles causing the driver to lose control and
> colliding with the other. We just really don't know....
>
> JM2C
>
> Jon Beets
>
>
>
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