[image-1]The city of Euclid will pay $675,000 to Wickliffe resident Regina Hardesty in a legal settlement relating to a 2013 high-speed police chase that ended in a crash. Hardesty was seriously injured during the incident. (She was not the person being chased by the police officer.)
Euclid officer Jose Alcantara initiated a traffic stop in March 2013, and very quickly the driver fled. Alcantara flew after the driver, hitting speeds in the neighborhood of 100 mph without using his cruiser’s flashing lights or siren, according to Hardesty’s attorneys. The other driver eventually crashed into Hardesty on Euclid Avenue.
Part of the argument advanced in the suit is that Alcantara had no justification for pursuing the driver (who had committed a minor traffic violation), especially at such high speeds.
A jury trial loomed prior to the parties arriving at this settlement. The jury would have been tasked with determining “whether police can be held liable for reckless police pursuits that cause injury to third parties.”
“This settlement sends a message to police departments that these vehicular pursuits often pose a great risk of danger to the public,” attorney Terry Gilbert said in a public statement. “Departments must institute clear policies and mandatory training to restrict pursuits to only emergency circumstances, and under proper supervision.”
This article appears in Oct 11-17, 2017.
The penalty for fleeing n eluding a police officer should be severe. The danger n risk of injury are high to the innocent. What is the Alternative, you let the scum bags go n keep people safe good choice but then they will do it again. Then everyone gets it, just take off n the police cant chase ur free. No good answer.
Sends a message to losers that fleeing is a free ticket to get out of a crime. How about we give immunity to officers and create a system where the perpetrator is the only one liable, and if a lawsuit arises, they pay the settlement even if it’s through hard labor in a prison working camp breaking rocks. That way, even if it’s a misdemeanor they fled from they could spend years behind bars paying off their debt. Bet they’d think twice then.