Kristie's Law

In the news July 17, 2018, the LA Times: California's top court to decide what officers must do to escape liability in pursuit crashes. The article mentions the Prianos' efforts with the state legislature and the crash that killed Kristie. Candy Priano's primary goal is preventing the tragedy of pursuit from happening to others, especially innocent bystanders.


Senator Sam AanestadKristie's Law
 was introduced to the California Senate in 2003 as a spot bill. The bill's author, state Senator Sam Aanestad, R-Grass Valley, held senate hearings on the measure in 2004 and 2005. He carried the bill for one reason: to save lives.

Aanestad testified his legislation would cut the numbers of pursuits and deaths. It would allow police statewide to only chase fleeing suspects they believed had committed or were about to commit violent felonies.

When the bill did not pass in 2005, the senator spoke to his fellow senators: "I compared efforts to restrict police pursuits to Florence Nightingale's campaign in the 1800s to convince doctors they must wash their hands before doing surgery. She was laughed at, but she persisted. [...] I hope someday you'll listen."

In line with the urging of California's Fourth Appellate Court on November 26, 2002, Kristie's Law would have corrected California's immunity shield for law enforcement that grants immunity even when the pursuit policy is not followed. It also advocated the need for a statewide pursuit policy that would have limited vehicular police pursuits to violent crimes when there is no other way to apprehend the suspect(s). is the author of Kristie's Law

California has one specific area of law that is unique among the 50 states. California Vehicle Code Section 17004.7 provides immunity to law enforcement for injury to and death of innocent bystanders even when officers do not follow the vehicular pursuit policy their agency has actually adopted. There is no accountability to innocent victims and the families left behind.

In 2007, a law-enforcement backed bill revised Vehicle Code Section 17004.7. The code goes on and on, but it does not require officers to follow their pursuit policy. Read carefully, there's even an escape clause regarding the requirement for officers to read their pursuit policy. Vehicle Code 17004.7 (b) (2) reads as follows: "The failure of an individual officer to sign a certification shall not be used to impose liability on an individual officer or a public entity."

Read the Vehicle Code Section 17004.7 as it was from 1988 to 2006 law.


Keeping You and Your Family Safe

Candy Priano states: "The hardest part is watching the slow progress. For more than 100 years, before Ford's first Model T rolled off the assembly line, police pursuit and response call crashes have killed innocent bystanders and police officers. Department leaders need to adopt well-defined, life-saving policies and require their officers to follow these policies. Too often leaders place life-saving pursuit policies on a shelf where they gather dust."

Kristie's Law

Kristie's Law directly and pro-actively addressed safety standards to minimize the risk injuries and deaths related to vehicular police pursuits for the public and peace officers. It would have created standards to ensure police pursuits are conducted in a response to an immediate threat to life or a violent crime. Another life-saving necessity was to require officers to follow their own agency's pursuit policy. 

California: The Daily Journal, Perspectives—September 30, 2009—Underneath that rigid view of right and wrong is an implicit balancing test diminishing the value of the persons drawing the negative lottery ticket. That human roadblock [innocent bystander] is an abstract entity until the number is drawn. Thereafter, it is Kristie Priano. More on California's one specific area of law which is shamefully unique among the fifty states; it's Not So Black and White.

Worldwide, advocates for Kristie's Law believe in law and order. People who break the law, no matter what the crime, need to be punished to the fullest extent of the law. Advocates believe the penalty for fleeing and eluding should be mandatory prison time.

PursuitSAFETY's spokesperson
Glenn Morshower shares a personal message


"It has everything to do with risk
versus reward. In many cases, where the suspect poses no immediate danger to the public, it's the chase itself that causes the threat. This is not an anti-police campaign,"
said Glenn Morshower. "I am a huge supporter of what it is police do. I just believe policy and procedure are there for a reason and need to be followed."

 

Fifteen

They Viewed Kristie and Others As Acceptable Collateral Damage
A Memoir
By Candy Priano
No release date for publication.Candy receives Honorable Mention—Nonfiction

More on Candy's memoir at her author's website, candypriano.com. Watch Candy read from her work in progress during an Open Mic session at the Butte County, CA, Library.
If you'd like your loved ones listed in Fifteen, write to Candy Priano: 
candypriano@kristieslaw.org

 

Honorable Mention—Nonfiction
Santa Barbara Writers Conference 

Candy Priano received this recognition for Chapter 1 from her upcoming memoir, Fifteen. The Santa Barbara Writers Conference brings fantastic authors, faculty, and staff together with talented, warm-hearted writers for one week in June. Special thanks to Monte Schulz for sponsoring this annual event. Candy believes Kristie delights in the joy of laughter because at the top of this certificate is the image of Snoopy typing the words, “You Can Go Home Again If You Want To.” (2018, photo by Steven Priano)

 

You can find out more about Fifteen at candypriano.com. Fifteen is the first book to focus on the innocent bystanders who pay too high a price for public safety. We will remember the names of innocent bystanders killed and injured as a result of police pursuits. 

Fifteen

Crimes called "accidents"

Criminals called "victims"


The Innocent called "Acceptable Collateral Damage"

Could this happen to
someone in your family?

None of these people ever
thought it could happen to them.

(Click image to enlarge.)
"The Police Chief," published an article with this quote:

"Abandoning the pursuit does
not mean the officer stops
apprehension efforts; rather,
the officer initiates other resources to bring about the
apprehension."
 —Lt. John Specht,
Hillsboro, Oregon, PD