Some 30% of police car chases end in collisions, 15% in injuries to innocent bystanders - 'Police Stop'

 17.06.2000

A high-speed crash involving two police cars ramming each other has prompted calls for better driver training for officers.

Five people were taken to hospital following the accident, which occurred around 1.45 am yesterday at the corner of Sandringham Rd and St Lukes Rd in Auckland.

Both cars were racing to the same burglary, of a liquor store in Onehunga.

Four of the injured were police officers. The fifth was a student on work experience who was discharged from hospital yesterday.

One of the police staff remained in hospital last night.

Former police driving instructor Stewart Roddick said yesterday that the driver training given to police recruits was "totally inadequate" and they should have regular refresher courses.

"The fact that there are no refresher courses is criminal.

"Their assessment as to whether a recruit is suitable for high-speed pursuit driving consists of driving 6km around a race track with a cassette tape of a siren playing. It's a joke."

More people had died as a result of police car crashes than had been shot by police, Mr Roddick said.

"In the last five years alone 47 people have been either killed or seriously injured in police crashes.

"It's bad enough that two police cars crashed into each other - imagine if the other car had been a taxi?"

National MP Brian Neeson said the lack of driver training for police officers was putting their lives and those of the public at risk. Better training could have prevented the accident, he said.

"I'm really upset by this incident but not surprised. Police command needs to take responsibility for these incidents. They've known for years that their training is not good enough."

The general manager of training based in Wellington, Superintendent Steve Long, disputed Mr Roddick's claims.

Based on Land Transport Safety Authority analysis of crashes per kilometre, police rates were half those of the general public, he said.

"When we get people saying this is criminal, I just wonder where this is coming from.

"I wouldn't minimise any accident that we have which is serious - and clearly this one has been serious. But, unfortunately, all police forces everywhere have those, because the cars are out on the streets all the time."

The commander of Auckland City police, Superintendent Howard Broad, said it was a concern that police staff racing to an incident to "save someone" sometimes overlooked safe driving practices.

About 600 officers were at present undertaking refresher training around Auckland in a bid to improve their skills, he said.

Both the Police Complaints Authority and the Auckland City police are investigating the accident.

One Sandringham resident, who lives two blocks away from the crash site, said he heard only one siren turned on just seconds before impact.

"It sounded like a dumpster being dropped from the Empire State Building," he said.

One of the cars involved in the accident then crashed into the concrete block wall of an interior design shop at the intersection, holing it in two places.

The owner of Uno Design, Kathleen Haimes, said the business would probably close for two weeks while the damage was repaired.

"The damage to the wall was caused by the second impact, so the initial crash must have been huge."

Ms Haimes said she often saw police cars speeding in the area.

"They know it's a dangerous intersection."

15 March 2000

The brief life of a little girl who loved dancing, playing, and talking was recalled in New Plymouth when mourners gathered for the funeral of accident victim Michaela Keightley.

About 150 family members, friends, and their children gathered at the Whiteley Methodist Centre yesterday to farewell 3-year-old Michaela who died on Friday after being run down by a police car on a pedestrian crossing. The large church was full for the hour-long service, which included eulogies from Michaela's aunt, Deanne Decke, and her father, Bryan, 35, of Auckland. --NZPA

14 March 2000

Police say the officer who hit and killed a pre-schooler on a New Plymouth city crossing last week hit another pedestrian three months ago. The first collision, on the corner of Vivan and Robe streets in December, was fully investigated and no one was charged, acting area controller Inspector Don Allan said yesterday. "The fact that there were no charges had been discussed with the pedestrian at the conclusion of the investigation. The pedestrian agreed with this decision," Mr Allan said.

On Friday Michaela Kathryn Keightley, 3, died after she and her mother, Paulette, were hit while crossing at the street lights about 11am. Mr Allan declined to name the driver, who is a non-sworn support staff member of the New Plymouth force. He was driving his own vehicle. Police will attend the pre-schooler's funeral today.

Toddler run over by police car

A toddler in her pushchair was run over and killed when she and her mother were hit by a police car on a New Plymouth city crossing.

The girl, who died at the scene, was Michaela Katherine Keightley, three, New Plymouth. Her 30-year-old mother was not named by police.

Police said the fatality, which happened at 11am yesterday, would be fully investigated. The driver was employed by the police. Deputy Police Complaints Authority Judge Ian Borrin will arrive in New Plymouth early next week to run the inquiry.

Witness Wayne Sattler, who was the driver of a vehicle stopped at the lights in Eliot Street, said he watched the police patrol car as it turned left from Courtenay Street. "The lady, pushing the little girl in the pushchair, walked across in front of me. He hit the lady and the child. The lady was tossed across the bonnet and rolled over the driver's mudguard. Then the Commodore lurched as it bumped up over the pushchair. The mother was running around hysterical. I comforted her and someone else appeared and picked up the little girl and put her on the footpath."

Two ambulances arrived in an effort to administer treatment to the toddler, but it was too late. The mother was taken to the nearby police station to be comforted, and was later treated at Taranaki Base Hospital for minor injuries. The driver was not injured.

Mr Sattler said the patrol car was travelling slowly. Inspector Don Allan said: "This fatality is a tragedy for all those concerned and will be fully investigated. There is no indication that speed was a factor."

For the last few years the intersection was the worst of the city's top 10 crash black spots. The traffic lights at the intersection were working and the pedestrian cross-now signal was also operating, Mr Allan said. The intersection was controlled by lights, where turning vehicles give way to pedestrians. --NZPA

More die in police car chases

A police car pursuing a suspected stolen vehicle in Wanganui abandoned the chase before the vehicle ran a red light, crashed into another car and killed its woman occupant, police say.

The driver of the Holden, a 25-year-old unemployed Wanganui man, was in custody last night on charges of dangerous driving, disqualified driving, and driving while forbidden. He may face further charges after yesterday's crash on the corner of Taupo Quay and Victoria Avenue.

Police said the car chase started in an industrial area. "The officers had abandoned their pursuit before reaching the intersection," Inspector Gary Smith said. "But that's one of the things the Police Complaints Authority will be looking at - whether that decision should have been made earlier."

The crash was the fourth police chase crash this year. Two were in Palmerston North, one of which ended in the death of a teenager, and the other was in Nelson. [Some years ago a police sergeant defended fatal police car chases, joking to me that such incidences were "crash courses in crime prevention" for the offenders.]

22.11.2001

Police shot a man armed with a Machete yesterday after an apparent hostage drama in Christchurch.

The 32-year-old was last night in a critical condition in hospital after being shot in the chest at the end of a one-hour pursuit, during which a police car hit a power pole.

Police were called to an emergency involving a man and two women at a house in Rangiora, 27km north of Christchurch, about 4 pm.

Officers said the man had been making threats with the machete and there were "fears for people's safety".

A car carrying the three people left and was chased into Christchurch by police, including members of the armed offenders squad.

The car was finally stopped on Avonside Drive after being shunted off the road in a park beside the Avon River. Two police officers were injured when their car hit a power pole after hitting the offender's car.

They were taken to Christchurch Hospital with head and chest injuries.

The two women involved and a number of witnesses were interviewed by police last night.

Inspector Brian McGurk of New Brighton police would not say whether the women had been taken hostage.

Rangiora publican Roger Campbell, whose pub The Brook Hotel on Southbrook Rd is on the street where the drama began, said he saw a car being chased by two police vehicles just after 4 pm.

"They were running at huge speeds, just going flat out," he said.

Neither he nor any locals recognised the car being chased, suggesting it might not have been from the small community.

A witness said eight police cars were pursuing a Holden and one managed to push it onto the side of the road.

Another witness said a number of people ran from the Holden into the park. "Unfortunately the police car went on and crashed," he said.

Another resident near the park, who did not want to be named, said he heard "three or four" police shots after the chase ended.

A Christchurch Hospital spokeswoman, Allanah James, said the man was in a critical but stable condition last night.

She could not give details of his injuries, but said they were very serious and surgeons "were certainly not dealing with a scratch".

The wounded man was moved to a ward late last night after emergency surgery.

Mr McGurk said two inquiries had begun - one by the police to determine any criminal culpability and one by the Police Complaints Authority.

The Police Association representative for the southern region, Dave McKirdy, said he had not spoken to the officers involved in the shooting. "You can be assured the association will be ready to help the officers."  - Of cause they would, cover up and protect there own! We had the accident, but it wasn't our fault, even though we were driving! Yeah Right....

29.05.2001

Waikato police are still not saying why they were chasing a driver who crashed to his death.

A high-level investigation overseen by the Police Complaints Authority will take place alongside the routine death inquiry, but police would reveal little about either yesterday, saying they were being "deliberately bland" about Sunday's accident.

The driver, who was alone, was killed instantly and the vehicle consumed by a fireball when it crashed through a concrete bridge over the Mangapiko Stream on State Highway 39 at the northern entrance to Pirongia, 30km southwest of Hamilton, about 6.15 pm. The car barrelled 15m down a bank with its front end badly damaged.

Inspector Kelvin Powell, the Waikato West area controller, said the victim was unlikely to be formally identified until today.

"We have been deliberately bland in what we have released, at least until the formal identification of the body and notification of next of kin."

It is understood that the body was badly burned and that some documentation was found in the vehicle. It is not certain if the documents belonged to the driver.

The police inquiry into the death will prepare a file for the coroner. This investigation will be overseen by Inspector Lex Denby, the Waikato complaints review manager, who will act on behalf of the Police Complaints Authority.

Mr Denby said yesterday that he would take a particular interest in policies, procedures and the practices relating to police pursuits. He would also review anything else he was directed to by the complaints authority before reporting back.

Mr Powell would not say what speeds were reached during the chase, but said the vehicle had been pursued by a single police car for just minutes before the accident.

Aside from the forensic inquiry, police were also reconstructing the events that led up to the crash, and analysing the crash scene.

Police involved in the pursuit and the recovery of the man's body will be offered professional counselling.

Two other weekend police chases in the North Island ended in rammings.

In Taupo a police car was rammed after a chase through the town at 2.50 am on Sunday.

The pursued car's driver was sprayed with pepper spray as he sat in his vehicle but escaped police, crashing into other cars. Police were still looking for the driver yesterday.

In central Auckland, a police patrol car was rammed by a stolen car after a pursuit shortly after 6 pm on Sunday. The driver fled on foot but was arrested.

11.03.2000

A police car may have driven through a pedestrian "cross now" signal before killing a 3-year-old girl in a pushchair.

Police say the driver, a civilian support staff member, was running a police errand at the time of the accident in New Plymouth yesterday.

Paulette Keightley, aged 30, was pushing her daughter, Michaela Kathryn Keightley, in the pushchair across the crossing at the intersection of Courtenay and Eliot Sts about 11 am.

Senior Sergeant Doug Geraghty said the police car had stopped at the traffic lights at the corner, where turning vehicles give way to pedestrians.

It turned left when the lights went green.

"The speed would have been below 5 km/h," he said.

Inspector Don Allan said the pedestrian "cross now" signal appeared to have been operating at the time.

"This fatality is a tragedy for all those concerned and will be fully investigated."

Paulette Keightley, who was treated for minor injuries at Taranaki Base Hospital, was too distraught to speak yesterday.

She has not yet made a statement to police.

Michaela's father, Bryan Keightley, drove down from Auckland, where he works.

"I'm not even sure what's happened myself," he told the Weekend Herald.

"I just want Michaela to be left alone."

Witness Wayne Sattler, who was the driver of a vehicle stopped at the lights in Eliot St, said he watched the patrol car as it turned left from Courtenay St.

"The lady pushing the little girl in the pushchair walked across in front of me.

"He hit the lady and the child. The lady was tossed across the bonnet and rolled over the driver's mudguard.

"Then the Commodore lurched as it bumped over the pushchair," said Mr Sattler.

"The mother was running around hysterically. I comforted her and someone else appeared and picked up the little girl and put her on the footpath."

The Police Complaints Authority, Judge Neville Jaine, said there would be a full investigation.

Deputy authority judge Ian Borrin will arrive in New Plymouth early next week to run the inquiry.

Judge Jaine said New Plymouth police might carry out their own investigation to determine the role of the driver.

Police National Headquarters said there had been no fatal accidents involving a collision with a marked police vehicle in the past year, but there had been two fatal accidents involving police pursuits since January 1999.

Police Minister George Hawkins was briefed on the accident yesterday afternoon and said he would follow the matter through.

"The whole thing is a tragedy for the family of the little girl. But the police will go through all the normal procedures for when a police vehicle is involved in a crash."

Mr Hawkins said he was unsure whether it was common for non-sworn staff to drive marked police vehicles.

Sometimes a police chase ends in tragedy with innocent people killed or injured. JOHN ANDREWS puts the official rules governing pursuits under the microscope.

Emergency services such as the police have a mandate - to save lives.

So whenever police officers pursuing offenders become involved in crashes, directly or indirectly, and people are injured or killed, questions are asked.

Superintendent Steve Fitzgerald, the police national road safety manager, says officers become distraught after a pursuit that ends in a crash.

"People involved in pursuit ... they have to stay and clean up the mess," he told the Herald. "You are in direct contact with the result of some of your work."

He added: "We have to balance judicial aims with public health and safety."

A recent report says nearly 50 car crashes involving police in the past five years have resulted in serious injuries and 10 deaths.

Publicity is often great, particularly where innocent people are killed as a result of wanted motorists fleeing from police.

"It is easy to sit comfortably in your lounge and make a judgment whose the fault is," says Mr Fitzgerald.

"Unfortunately, my office gets the residue of every fatal crash. I see every one of them [reports] pass my desk. It is sadness and frustration. A lot of it doesn't need to happen. It is often bad luck from a police point of view."

Mr Fitzgerald says he is well aware of the anguish police drivers experience when, after they have backed off from a pursuit, an offender crashes.

But he believes that overall, the police have a good safety record.

Police have specific pursuit policy guidelines. The aim is to ensure that, if things get too dangerous, they try to back off, hoping the fleeing suspects do not kill themselves or someone else.

What are the Police Department's guiding principles for car chases?

Pursuits can begin only where legal authority exists and the circumstances fall within the Police Department's policy on vehicle pursuits.

That is because every vehicle pursuit is regarded as inherently dangerous. And the police duty to preserve public safety must be the primary consideration at all times.

It is not just a single decision to give chase. Police officers in pursuits have a continuous responsibility to assess and reassess the changing circumstances and the consequences for public safety.

They are instructed to abandon car chases as soon as such pursuits are no longer justifiable under police policy.

What responsibilities do police drivers have?

They are told that they hold ultimate responsibility for their own driving.

They are required to observe the law, except where statutory exemption applies. And they must take every care to ensure the safety risks of pursuits are reduced as far as possible in all circumstances.

The police guidelines call for police drivers to:

* Immediately inform their communications centre or supervisor, giving concise reasons for starting a pursuit and a description of the wanted vehicle, its occupants, direction of travel and the actions of the fleeing vehicle, as well as traffic and pedestrian conditions.

* Use warning lights, including headlights in daylight, and a siren.

* Drive at a safe speed at intersections and other potentially dangerous places.

* Maintain radio contact with their communications centre or supervisor, giving accurate updates on the pursuit.

* Constantly reassess the situation to ensure continuing the pursuit is justified and that no other less dangerous means of stopping the wanted vehicle is reasonably available.

If a chased vehicle stops, pursuing officers must make sure it remains stopped, using reasonable force where necessary.

Drivers must abandon a chase if directed by a controlling officer.

What factors are taken into account when police drivers assess if a chase should continue?

They are obliged to consider the safety of the public, themselves and the influence the pursuit seems to be having on an offender's driving.

The number of people in the vehicle they are chasing must also be taken into consideration, as well as the immediate potential for injury to innocent people.

A decision to continue pursuit may be affected when a suspected offender's identity becomes known, or can be reasonably established, or an arrest can be made later.

Police drivers are instructed to abandon pursuit when continuing it poses an immediate and serious risk to anyone's safety and if the risk exceeds the reason the chase was begun or is not outweighed by the need to catch a suspect.

What alternatives do police have to stop fleeing vehicles?

Police can use road spikes, roadblocks or what they term moving blocks, patrol cars hemming in errant motorists. Roadblocks are allowed where serious and immediate threats to public safety exist.

What are the responsibilities of controlling officers?

Police policy calls for controlling officers to monitor and supervise pursuits, coordinating other resources where practicable.

Of paramount importance is their obligation to consider how a pursuit can be safely and successfully ended.

Controlling officers are instructed to:

* Immediately establish with those in a pursuing car the reasons for the chase and that continuing it is justified.

* Remind pursuing police of their key pursuit responsibilities.

* Limit the number of pursuing police vehicles to no more than two, unless there is good reason to authorise others.

* Regularly question pursuing patrol cars about road and traffic conditions.

* Constantly reassess whether continuing the chase is justified and whether any other less dangerous way of stopping a fleeing vehicle is reasonably available.

* Direct police drivers to abandon a pursuit immediately if the circumstances no longer justify it. They must use the words "abandon pursuit now" when issuing instructions to stop.

* Deploy patrols when possible to alert other motorists at critical points, especially traffic lights. They are also told to use road spikes or roadblocks when possible and desirable.

They can also arrange for air surveillance if necessary and practicable. Once air support has taken over pursuit, patrols on the ground are to be instructed to abandon pursuit and drop back out of sight.

What actions do controlling officers take in the event of a crash?

They have to make sure a supervisor goes to the scene and files a report before the vehicles have been moved, if possible.

The supervisor has to remind the pursuing officer to furnish a report. If the driver is unable to do that, the supervisor must do it on the driver's behalf.

The police policy guide on pursuits notes that when a chase ends in a crash in which anyone is killed or injured, the Police Complaints Authority will investigate.

What laws enable a police patrol car driver to begin a pursuit?

The Transport Act and the Crimes Act empower police officers in uniform or in vehicles with flashing lights and a siren to stop other vehicles.

They can do so for traffic enforcement purposes, or to arrest a person in a vehicle if there are reasonable grounds to suspect that person is unlawfully at large or has committed an offence punishable by imprisonment.

A motorist may be arrested for failing or refusing to stop following a signal to do so.

A chase can start when a driver knowingly fails or refuses to stop.

The object of such a chase is to enable the arrest of a motorist in the safest possible manner and with minimum force necessary.