When Candy was told she could not present her testimony, she showed pictures of innocent victims of pursuit to the Senators. Senator Carole Migden, D-San Francisco, was the only senator who voted FOR Kristie's Law. How they voted, click here.

Candy's Testimony:

Again, I want to thank the members of the Senate Public Safety Committee and Senator Sam Aanestad and his staff. Today, I will probably talk a little bit about Kristie's death. But today is different, it's time that you heard the voices of other families who have had loved ones killed in pursuits and others who are victims of pursuit.

People - not numbers - are being killed in California and around the country because there is a mind set that says we must catch the bad guys at all cost.

I suspect that today you are going to hear a lot of numbers, a lot of statistics, so please when you hear the numbers, please remember, it is not really a number, it is a person ... someone's daughter, someone's mother, wife, sister, brother, husband, son, granchild.

After the Informational Hearing in March, I put a request on the Kristie's Law web site for people to submit their testimonies for this hearing. Some wrote in and others simply said, read anything you want that I've already sent you.

One of the new testimonies came from Albert Boland. He lives in Dobbins and has been sending all of you letters and emails in support of Kristie's Law. But the last one he sent caught my attention because he wrote: Killing the innocent does not save lives. What some of you may not have picked up from Mr. Boland's many emails is that his innocent 18-year-old granddaughter Sarah was killed in a police pursuit in Sacramento.

Mr. Boland tells me that a helicopter was involved in this pursuit and the pursuing officer was told to back off because of heavy traffic that was just ahead on the road. Mr. Boland says the officer disobeyed and continued with the pursuit that resulted in a crash that killed his innocent granddaughter. When Sarah's parents filed a wrongful death suit against the City of Sacramento, of course, their suit was summarily dismissed.  

The horror doesn't stop there. (And please know these are Albert Boland's words) Sarah's parents, Chris and Laura, received a $6,000 bill from the City of Sacramento for the city's legal fees. Fortunately, this time, a judge must have decided enough is enough for one family to bear and threw out the city's request for $6,000. And I believe Mr. Boland's story because we too, like so many other victims of pursuit, received just one correspondence from our city after Kristie was killed. And it reads: WARNING: Please be advised that, pursuant to Section 1038 of the California Code of Civil Procedure, the City will seek to recover all costs of defense in the event an action is filed in the matter and it is determined that the action was not brought in good faith and with reasonable cause. We were listed as heirs-at-law to Kristina Priano.

Kristie's Law, SB 718, does not address immunity any more. Senator Sam Aanestad has found another way to introduce legislation that is PREVENTATIVE and will save lives because SB 718 will lower the number of chases. Less chases means less deaths.

In closing, Kristie and many other victims of pursuit would be alive today, if Senate Bill 718 had been the law in 2002. I also ask you to ask yourself this question: When was the last time you read this headline:

"Innocent bystander killed during police chase of unknown (or sometimes known) suspect for a minor traffic infraction."

I've read this headline too many times. In the last month three people - three innocent people were killed in California pursuits for this very reason and a fourth innocent bystander was killed in Berkeley when police chased a known drug dealer. This chase netted one known drug dealer for the life of an innocent graduate student.

I, and many other Californians, urge you to vote "yes" today on Senate Bill 718. It is up to you to prevent future victims of pursuit.