Arkansas State Police had been filmed leaping a Dodge Charger cruiser at greater than 100 mph final month throughout a site visitors cease turned automotive chase. The officers nearly hit a phone pole and at last stopped once they realized they’d badly broken their cruiser within the chase, begging the query: what was all of it for?
On October 15, state trooper Jackson Shumate pulled over a Dodge Charger driver in Arkansas, stories CarScoops. The driving force stopped, however then fled the scene as soon as Shumate was out of his cruiser.
The officer jumped again of their automotive and sped after the driving force. Within the course of, they launched their police-issued Dodge Charger over a pace hump at nearly 100 mph, in accordance with dashcam footage of the chase shared on-line. The automotive got here clattering again right down to earth after the soar, nearly hitting a phone pole and performing some severe harm to the cruiser within the course of.
At no level within the video, which you’ll see for your self above, does Shumate get anyplace close to the automotive they’re chasing regardless of hitting speeds that had been nicely in extra of the posted restrict. Finally, the driving force bought away, as CarScoops provides:
Shumate audibly reacts and barely avoids hitting a phone pole. Shortly thereafter, he realizes he has an issue. “It’s bought fairly a niche on me, I believe I broke my oil pan,” Shumate says. In line with the video description, the suspect did certainly get away. That is removed from the one case the place it appears that evidently suspects evade seize whereas ASP drives at double and even triple the pace restrict to catch them.
The perp bought away, the automotive was badly broken leaving legislation enforcement with a expensive restore invoice and the lives of different street customers had been put in danger by the 100-mile-an-hour-chase. So actually, what was the purpose?
America is awash with tales of excessive pace police chases, whether or not it’s cops chasing drivers evading site visitors stops like this, or officers pursuing doubtlessly stolen automobiles in reverse down busy highways. Hardly ever do these sorts of tales finish in a profitable arrest, and as a substitute they usually lead to extreme property harm and even the demise of harmless bystanders.
The Division of Transportation stories that there are roughly 250,000 excessive pace chases within the U.S. yearly and between 6,000 and eight,000 of these finish in crashes, stories the Florida Division of Regulation Enforcement.
If it’s simply the police automotive that’s broken within the crash, the invoice for taxpayers is already eye-watering. Officers in Arkansas lately bought approval for a $5.8 million buy of 150 new automobiles for its officers, which places every automobile within the new fleet at round $40,000. You write off 6,000 Dodge Charger police cruisers and also you’re taking a look at a invoice of $240 million to interchange them.
Then there’s the harm to personal property that may happen. A 2022 report from Pennsylvania Police discovered that the common harm per high-speed chase amounted to roughly $404 for the police, $774 for the violators and a ridiculous $913 for uninvolved individuals.
On high of that, harmless bystanders may discover themselves on the receiving finish of a hefty medical invoice as nicely, as Florida police add that shut to five,000 individuals decide up accidents in police chases yearly. That’s earlier than you get to the one in 500 chases that tragically result in the demise of an individual.
There needs to be a greater technique to ticket a rushing driver than this present marketing campaign of demise and destruction.
