Kristie's Law

Without ACCOUNTABILITY, pursuit policy, training, and supervision are meaningless.

We are fighting for "PREVENTION" not "LITIGATION"

Judges cite "reckless behavior" as a violation of immunity.
Does "reckless behavior" include the actions of officers
who fail to follow their own agency's pursuit policy?

"Yes" = States hold public entities accountable
when their officers fail to follow their policies.

"No" = States grant immunity to public entities
even when officers do not follow their pursuit policies.

Alabama—Yes Alaska—Yes Arizona—Yes Arkansas—Yes *California—No Colorado—Yes Connecticut—Yes Delaware Dist. of Columbia* —Yes Florida—Yes Georgia—Yes Hawaii—Yes	Idaho—Yes Illinois—Yes Indiana—Yes Iowa—Yes Kansas—Yes Kentucky—Yes Louisiana—Yes Maine—Yes Maryland—Yes Massachusetts—Yes Michigan—Yes Minnesota—Yes Mississippi —Yes Missouri—Yes Montana—Yes	Nebraska—Yes Nevada—Yes New Hampshire—Yes New Jersey—Yes New Mexico—Yes New York—Yes North Carolina—Yes North Dakota—Yes Ohio—Yes Oklahoma—Yes Oregon—Yes Pennsylvania—Yes Rhode Island—Yes	South Carolina—Yes South Dakota—Yes Tennessee—Yes Texas—Yes Utah—Yes Vermont—Yes Virginia—Yes Washington—Yes West Virginia—Yes Wisconsin—Yes Wyoming—Yes

Since laws continually change, please send any information about a state's immunity law or court rulings to Candy Priano at kristies-law@sbcglobal.net. Thank you.

Absolutely, we blame the drivers who flee.
: We also believe officers must follow their pursuit policy because we cannot put our trust in fleeing drivers to do the right thing.
: Fleeing drivers have more rights than innocent victims of pursuit.

Victims of pursuit and families left behind blame the fleeing drivers for the deaths and injuries to their loved ones.

But it is also clear that when officers fail to follow their own agency's pursuit policy, two wrongs do not make it right; they make it deadly.

We need to put "teeth" in these pursuit policies & practices to save lives:

1. We do not blame officers for the actions of the fleeing drivers.

2. Kristie's Law and similar legislation is not about suing officers. It's about preventing these tragedies from happening.

3. Officers will NOT be sued under Kristie's Law.

4. The public entities that employ officers will not be sued under Kristie's Law as long as the officers follow their pursuit policy.

We cannot put our trust in fleeing drivers to do the right things so we have to rely on officers to put public safety first and follow their pursuit policies.

Can you think of any other public-safety priority where thoughtful policy is developed, adopted and then legally ignored?

All other law enforcement policies require accountability. Accountability should never be feared. It is critical to good government.
— Jim Phillips, pursuitwatch.org, authored the copy in bold-italic.

State high court rulings