Washington, D.C.

Facts, Please
Washington Post Editoral
June 16, 2007

ANOTHER terrible crash on the Capital Beltway: Four young women were killed and a fifth was injured Thursday night; three of the victims had graduated from West Potomac High School only hours before. Our hearts go out to the families.

Meanwhile, nearly three weeks have passed since a seven-vehicle pileup on the Beltway claimed two lives, and we know little more about what happened now than we did the night of May 30.

At the time, police told reporters that an officer was chasing a motorcyclist and, in the process, rammed another vehicle, which sailed over a median rail and onto the Beltway's inner loop. Five other cars traveling in the inner loop then crashed. The driver and passenger in the car that jumped the median both died, and 15 people were injured. The officer who allegedly gave chase is on administrative leave. There is a video record of the matter, caught by a camera in the police cruiser, but the motorcyclist is still at large.

Read the complete editorial, right here.

Police Actions Questioned in Fatal Crash

"I would like to know, did the officer call the chase in to a supervisor, or did he take the matter into his own hands to catch this dude on the motorcycle?" Dangerfield said.

Read the complete story, right here.

Motorcyclist in chase that led
to fatal Beltway wreck still on run

Sidney Clanton of Buffalo, N.Y., and Kevin McCarter, 40,
of Fort Washington were killed; 15 others injured.

A woman who identified herself as McCarter's wife
told The Examiner that she was too distraught to talk.
Read the complete story in The Examiner right here.

2 Killed, 15 Injured in Chain of Beltway Crashes

by Clarence Williams and Elissa Silverman
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, May 31, 2007

A police attempt to stop a speeding motorcycle touched off a gruesome series of collisions on both sides of the Capital Beltway in Prince George's County last night, killing two people and injuring 15 others, including two officers. ...

The force of the impact caused the car to go airborne over the median's guardrail and into oncoming traffic on the inner loop. That caused a chain-reaction crash involving five southbound cars.

The motorcycle sped off, and its driver remained at large, police said.

Read the complete story in the Washington Post right here.

LOOK HOW THE NEWS WAS SPREAD...
http://www.wftv.com/news/13417434/detail.html
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/05/31/national/main2869486.shtml

Police chases not worth risk of tragedy

by Margery Eagan
Boston Globe Columnist

Explain this, please: Because about 100 children a year are abducted and killed by strangers, we have totally revamped American childhood. "Good" parents won't even let children in the back yard alone.

Yet at least that many innocent Americans, including children (some estimate two or three times as many) are killed every year in police chases. And every time I've written a column asking if these chases are worth it, the response is the same.

Surely I am insane. Really?

Margery Eagan wrote a column Oct. 13, 1996 and writes: "Mary Anderson, 43, became the latest member of the public to sacrifice her life to a car chase by police who are supposed to protect the public.

Then on Jan. 25, 2000, Margery Eagan wrote another column about the striking similarities in pursuit crashes. She writes: "Police nearly always say they call off the pursuit seconds or minutes or miles before the pursued suspect rammed into ... an oncoming car." Links to Eagan's columns are right here.

Speed causes crashes and in too many cases kills the innocent

The following story is about a Virginia couple killed when a police car smashed into their car. The officer was responding to a non-emergency call in a "bad" neighborhood.

Richmond Times-Dispatch
After deaths of Petersburg couple, more loss: loss of trust
"The idea that the people you trusted were involved in the death of your loved one adds another type of loss: the loss of trust in someone you thought would keep you safe," Candy Priano said.

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