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Study shows four died in police pursuits in 2003
The Associated Press
HARRISBURG - Four people died in police chases in Pennsylvania in 2003, down from six the previous year and 11 in 2001, state police reported.
Total chases rose almost 7 percent last year -- 2,081, compared with 1,945 in 2002, according to the Pennsylvania Police Pursuits report issued Monday. There were 2,314 pursuits in 2001.
A police pursuit is defined as an attempt to apprehend someone in a vehicle while the motorist increases speed, fails to slow or ignores a signal to stop.
The most common reason police initiated a pursuit was for a traffic violation -- 1,009 chases. Stolen or suspected-stolen vehicles accounted for 349 chases.
Police broke off 566 pursuits, 663 resulted in crashes, and 251 crashes resulted in injuries.
Seventy-one percent of automobile drivers who were pursued were eventually caught. Fifty-one percent of motorcyclists were apprehended.
