6 killed, 7 hurt when SUV rolls during Texas police chase

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

EDNA, Texas (AP) — Police say six people died and seven were hurt when their SUV rolled during a police chase in South Texas.

City police Chief Clinton Wooldridge says officers tried to stop the SUV for a traffic violation in Edna, 90 miles southwest of Houston, early Thursday, but the vehicle sped away. As police chased the car on Highway 59, it flipped several times.

Wooldridge says four people died at the scene and two more died at hospitals. Seven others are hospitalized. No information has been released on their conditions.

Wooldridge says he believes the victims are citizens of Honduras and Guatemala. He has no information on their legal status in the U.S.

Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/be9c5c7799214067ba2e8f466b4ca93d/6-killed-7-hurt-when-suv-rolls-during-texas-police-chase

[yeoman6987]

1. Clearly the driver was scared to stop

Of course the cops could easily taken the license plate and deal with it latter. I don't think police chasing the vehicle was the way to deal with this.

[Democat]

3. Unless they let the car go and the people in the car were in danger?

When someone runs from the police, they have no way of knowing why. What if there were hostages inside, or felons that would commit more crimes if not caught?

They probably made the wrong decision in this case, but it's not an easy decision to make.

[christx30]

7. Plus the people could dump

the car and become untraceable.

[Darb]

2. There is a better way. Cops love the chase of course, which is

why they happen. It doesn't have to happen that way. If someone gets away, then mark the license plate and the associated VIN and that vehicle is done the next time it is stopped. It cannot be registered. It cannot be insured. Even put a hold on the VIN when it shows up anywhere to be serviced or sold.

That is a deterrent. That vehicle becomes done until the driver is identified. Or something like it, but car chases are stupid.

[snooper2]

4. stolen cars, kidnapped kid inside, someone high on meth about to kill another driver

Yeah, cops just love to put their life at risk because some fucking idiot decided to run


You may be watching too many movies

[BillZBubb]

9. So the cop chases them and everyone inside dies?

Someone, mostly innocent, is more likely to die in a chase.

Cops lives are rarely at risk in a chase. It is the passengers of the chased vehicle, or other vehicles hit by the chased vehicle who suffer.

You may not be thinking clearly.

[Throd]

10. So the police should never pursue a driver that refuses to stop?

[BillZBubb]

13. Only rarely should they have a high speed pursuit.

This was a case where one never should have happened.

[muriel_volestrangler]

22. Is there a link to something saying it was 'high speed'? (nt)

[840high]

33. +10

[Darb]

49. Well you have identified the 1,000,000th percentile, thanks.

But mostly, my approach would work. If a car thief gets away, oh the horror. So what. Better than a bunch of people killed for certain.

As for that one in a million situation that you identified, well, we might have to suck that up too.

[snooper2]

50. you should head on over to your local LEA and do your pitch, they might just go for it!

[Travis_0004]

5. Unless the car is stolen, or the plate is stolen

The police don't know why they are running.

I agree that chases are stupid, so I have little sympathy for the driver of the car.

[Warpy]

29. Exactly, there was no reason to give chase for a simple traffic violation

only to call it in, giving description, plate, speed and direction. A roadblock ahead would have been a better way to handle this one.

Human trafficking is a big deal here in border states, people delivering undocumented workers to businesses all over the country that have contracted to hire them.

[TxVietVet]

6. The driver ran. His first BIG mistake.

It is usually an indicator that the driver is doing something that is not quiet legal. End result is that everyone with him pays the ultimate price. The driver should have stopped. Cops chase guys like this driver BECAUSE they run. If people knew that the cops wouldn't chase them, just imagine what would be happening on our roads everyday.
Think about it.

[BillZBubb]

11. When FASCISM comes to America it will come as blind support for police.

Cops can chase them, just not at high speeds. A radio is a hell of a lot faster than a car.

Cops should weigh the risk to the people in the vehicle as well as other motorists versus the potential crime before engaging in high speed chases.

A cop in Texas sees an SUV packed with people, what "crime" does he suspect? Does that crime warrant putting all those people's lives at risk as well as others on the road?

If people knew cops wouldn't chase them, very little would change. Cops can get their vehicle ID and catch them later. Cops can radio ahead and coordinate an apprehension without high speed pursuit.

[Hangingon]

20. This driver was most likely a coyote.

The driver was most likely a coyote. According to the article, the passengers were Honduran and Guatemalan. Hwy 59 leads to Houston. These are pretty common chases around here. Most don't result in as many fatalities.

[SkyDaddy7]

23. Im sure this is not the reason for this chase...

But BY FAR the #1 reason people run from cops in high speed chases is they don't have proof of insurance...To me that is not worth risking people's lives over get the tag & meet them at their house/work/whatever.

There are only rare occasions when high speed chases should take place & that is when risking innocent life is necessary to save life...And that is very rare!

[blackspade]

8. I see the authoritarians are all over this.

Complete with uninformed speculation to justify police chases.

[BillZBubb]

12. Exactly. It is pretty pathetic from a supposedly progressive site.

[edgineered]

15. Exactly, the law should learn to follow, not chase.

What starts out as being 20 mph too fast increases rapidly as law enforcement closes the gap. Give them a little rope and keep them in sight, or depending on the roads, within range. The resources available to LE gives them a decisive advantage in time.

[LanternWaste]

16. It would appear the corollary is also true.

It would appear the corollary is also true.

[dbackjon]

25. And the backseat second guessers are all over it as well

Complete with uninformed speculation to bash the police.

[blackspade]

31. Maybe it's because the police are a gang of criminals.

And prove it on a daily basis.

[dbackjon]

32. Way to broadbrush every officer

95% are hard working and decent.

those that aren't should be prosecuted.

[blackspade]

34. Then the "95%" better get to work arresting these scum.

Until they do, they are no different than the assholes that daily murder and assault POC and other vulnerable blocks of the public.

[cigsandcoffee]

41. That's what Republicans say about Muslims. n/t

[blackspade]

42. Nice try at deflection.

That was just...sad.

[cigsandcoffee]

44. I haven't deflected anything. You're using the very same argument. n/t

[blackspade]

45. Absolutely not, and you know it.

Are we talking about Muslims or cops?
Or are you making the case that bad cops are the equivalent to ISIS or Al Quada?

[cigsandcoffee]

46. What I'm saying is simple.

Your argument is that all police are tainted for the actions of a radical few, because it's up to them to cut out the cancer in their ranks.

Conservatives argue that all Muslims are tainted by the actions of a radical few, because it's up to them to cut out the cancer in their ranks.

[blackspade]

48. The problem is that it is not a 'few'

It is a systemic problem that encompasses leadership, recruiting, training, and the FOP among other things.
There is not a logical comparison to religious extremism, so your point is meaningless.
This is just another stratagem to avoid discussion of the rot that has infected our militarized police forces.

[jwirr]

14. Another effing petty violation. And I do not give a rip what

their legal status in the US is. This is wrong. Wonder what ages the dead were? Children?

[valerief]

17. Wow, some cops must love killing people. I mean, what OTHER reason is there for doing

such a criminal, reckless thing? Imagine, putting all those lives on the road at risk, and for what? For HATE.

[Action_Patrol]

19. FFS

[valerief]

39. Welcome to my Forever Ignored club. nt

[Action_Patrol]

43. Since you won't see this

It won't matter but I think I'm lucky on this one.

[Travis_0004]

30. The cops didn't kill anybody

A speeding driver with no common sense killed people.

[Blue_Tires]

18. Damn...How the hell do you fit 15 passengers in a Ford Explorer?

[muriel_volestrangler]

21. Dangerously. Most would not have had seats, let alone seat belts

"Officers noted that the rear seat in the vehicle had been folded down and the middle seat had previously been removed, apparently to create more room in the vehicle," Wooldridge said.

And the handling of an Explorer with 15 people in it may explain why it flipped.

[happyslug]

35. My Family once packed 12 people in a 1970 Datsun pickup....

Five in the cab:



The other 7 in the bed. Now it was two adults and one older teen in the front, with a six and seven year old on the two non driver's laps. The rest of us older kids were in the bed. It was a tight fit and the six and seven year old really wanted to be in the bed (more room).

Worse, this had a five speed on the floor manual transmission, which meant the teen in the middle had to make sure her legs were to her right not her front.

Just pointing out it is possible (Later on my Father purchased a Dodge Pickup then a Suburban as his income increased AND the older kids went away to Collage and ended up with their own cars.

[Lizzie Poppet]

47. It was the "GOP Presidential Field" model.

[Ilsa]

24. And how many other travelers were placed in danger

over the police's reckless behavior? Hwy 59 is busy.

[dbackjon]

26. Shouldn't the primary blame go on the DRIVER?

You know, the person that drove away.

The person hauling 15 people in a car designed for 5?

[Eleanors38]

27. Not around here, apparently.

[Ilsa]

36. I'm not saying the driver was blameless.

But a high speed chase has consequences, too, sometimes with unrelated parties.

Could they have not alerted highway patrol further NE on the highway to intercept them?

I'd hate to hear that my family member was killed on Hwy 59 because the LEOs thought there were a few more illegal immigrants slipping through. Happens every day.

[Thinkingabout]

28. It is fairly oblivious this was a vehicle transporting undocumented people, Edna is in South Texas,

Hwy 59 is the road to Houston, why did the driver not stop? Doubt it was because the driver did not have insurance or drivers license, it was because of the people in the vehicle. A few years ago a pickup truck had undocumented people, police tried to stop the vehicle, driver went very fast, had a blow out and several people died when the vehicle went off the road. These six lives could have been saved if the driver stopped, plain and simple.

[markpkessinger]

37. Those lives could also have been saved . . .

. . . if the police had not given chase. The underlying notion seems to be that police MUST give chase, even if it means incurring the risks of a high-speed pursuit, for every possible violation they encounter. And that proposition is simply ludicrous.

[Thinkingabout]

38. Don't transfer the blame of this wreck except on the driver, the police was not driving the vehicle.

The vehicle was not equipped with seat belts for every passenger, it is the responsibility of the driver not to move the vehicle without everyone in seat belts in Texas. The driver was in control of the vehicle, was reckless and perhaps was not capable of handling a vehicle at high speed. Dont overlook the facts here, an over crowded vehicle, ample number of seat belts and operating at too high of speed.

[OakCliffDem]

40. If it had been a gun instead of an SUV, this would have been a mass shooting.

We have six people tragically killed in a confrontation. An individual used an object with intent, which resulted in several people being killed. Where is the outrage at the object?