Hot Pursuit: Chases Pose Public-Safety Risks
Police quandary: Continue or quit?
Sat, Oct 2, 2004

ROCCO LaDUCA
Observer-Dispatch

UTICA -- During high-speed police chases -- in which pulse rates are racing, speeds are skyrocketing, and cars are swerving -- officers have only moments to consider how fast and how far they're willing to go to stop someone.

And at these times, when almost anything can happen, law-enforcement officials agree that the bottom line must be everyone's safety.

Nevertheless, Thursday morning's police chase and fatal crash on the Thruway -- like every state police chase -- will be investigated by the state police's bureau of internal affairs, said Lt. Glenn Miner, spokesman for the state police headquarters in Albany.

"It's a judgment call to determine if it's more dangerous to keep chasing a vehicle or to stop," said New York State Police Capt. Donald M. Faughnan in Syracuse.

So when the state trooper who was chasing former National Football League player Justin Strzelczyk along the New York State Thruway Thursday morning saw him drink from a beer bottle while he was driving just before he threw it out the window, the trooper -- and the supervisors who were monitoring the pursuit -- decided that the driver was indeed a danger to other motorists, Faughnan said.

The 37-mile police chase that began just west of Canastota came to an explosive end about 25 minutes later at 8:17 a.m. when Strzelczyk, 36, died in a collision with a tanker truck near Herkimer.

But because police believed that the retired Pittsburgh Steeler might have been intoxicated while he was driving, they had a commitment to stop Strzelczyk from harming anyone, Faughnan said.

"In this instance, continuing to pursue the vehicle was the correct action," Faughnan said.

As the nation and the Utica area have seen police chases end tragically over the years, experts have questioned whether the benefits of high-speed police chases outweigh the risks.

In the past 10 years, 20 high-speed chases in the Mohawk Valley have resulted in crashes, O-D archives show. Those crashes resulted in a total of four deaths, nine injuries and two cases in which police officers narrowly avoided being run over.

Law-enforcement officials, however, argue that police chases are always closely monitored to determine when the chase becomes too hazardous to the officer, the person being chased, and surrounding vehicles or pedestrians.

According to O-D records, the Utica Police Department twice called off high-speed chases in the spring and summer of 2001. In each case, department officials cited safety concerns.

The dangers of police chases

Police began chasing Strzelczyk about 30 minutes after he was reportedly involved in a hit-and-run accident near Syracuse, but criminologist Geoffrey Alpert believes such an incident itself doesn't justify such a high-speed pursuit -- which police said reached speeds as high as 90 mph.

"Chases are dangerous because as long as the person is trying to escape, he's going to do things that are not in the best interest of the public, himself or the officer," said Alpert, a criminal law professor at the University of South Carolina.

"All he wants to do is escape," Alpert said. "So either the person stops, or the person crashes."

Alpert has spent many years researching police chases, and he said the statistics have remained the same over the years: 40 percent of police chases end in accidents, 20 percent in injuries and 1 percent in death.

Alpert believes that high-speed police chases are only acceptable if the person being chased has been involved in a violent felony, such as murder or rape.

And the fact that Strzelczyk might have been intoxicated isn't a good enough reason to put other people at risk, Alpert said.

"If he's not driving well at one speed, then he's not going to be driving well at higher speeds," Alpert said.

Instead, Alpert believes that attempts should be made to apprehend the suspect at a later time. One way to do so, he said, is by running the vehicle's license plate and finding out where the suspect lives.

"Why endanger other people for 40 miles if they know who the person was?" Alpert said.

As state police chased Strzelczyk, they did in fact run his Pennsylvania plates, state Trooper Deborah Streety in Syracuse said.

And the vehicle was indeed registered to Strzelczyk, who was living in Pittsburgh, she said.

"But there is no way to know for sure who is actually driving the vehicle until a positive identification has been made," Streety said.

Police were able to positively identify Strzelczyk as the driver of the speeding vehicle only after he had been killed, Streety said.

Strzelczyk was heading eastbound on the Thruway for most of the chase as state police made efforts to stop his vehicle. They placed metal spikes across the Thruway, which flattened the front right tire of Strzelczyk's pick-up truck, state police said.

But Strzelczyk kept going -- driving 15 miles on three tires and a rim.

Only when Strzelczyk came upon a tractor-trailer truck blocking his path across the Thruway did he shift his course, state police said.

Strzelczyk crossed over into the westbound lane, where he drove against traffic until slamming into a tanker truck.

Both vehicles burst into flames, and Strzelczyk was killed as his mangled truck tumbled several hundred yards, police said.

The 60-year-old driver of the tanker truck -- which had previously been emptied of its hazardous contents -- was uninjured, police said.

@brf:The rules of the road

In addition to Strzelczyk's fatal police chase, the area has seen other tragic police chases over the years that have raised concerns:

* In July 1996, a chase in northern Madison and western Oneida counties on Route 31 at speeds up to 110 mph led to a crash at Joel's Front Yard Steakhouse in Verona that killed two people.

The intoxicated driver -- Anthony Daniels, 26, of Syracuse -- was convicted of second-degree murder. An appellate court upheld the conviction, saying state police were justified in pursuing someone seen driving erratically at 9 in the morning.

* In October 1996, 72-year-old Vivian M. Czarecki from New Jersey died after an eight-mile police chase that began after she ran a red light on Route 5 in Herkimer.

The chase -- which exceeded a speed of 80 mph -- ended after Czarecki's 1989 Honda rammed two police cruisers and struck a utility pole on Route 5 in Schuyler before splitting into two pieces and ejecting Czarecki.

Although a federal jury later dismissed a civil lawsuit against the village of Herkimer and the officer involved, a federal judge still chastised the police as "untrained, unprofessional and unprepared" for the events that led up to Czarecki's death.

But Herkimer Police Chief Joseph Malone -- who wasn't village police chief in 1996 -- said Friday it is impossible to have a specific set of rules to follow in a police chase.

"No matter how many rules, regulations or procedures there are -- it all boils down to common sense. That's what you rely on," Malone said.

Once an officer radios in a pursuit, the officer and supervisors -- either sergeants, captains or the chief himself -- monitor the situation to see if it warrants terminating, Malone said.

But when it comes to common sense in high-speed police chases, the circumstances of a police chase are not always black and white, said Lt. Glenn Miner, spokesman for state police headquarters in Albany.

"The troopers and supervisors involved have to consider anything that would put citizens' lives in danger," Miner said.

"But there is no specific list that states what is right and wrong," Miner said. "You can't cover every possible scenario. It's impossible."

Miner continued, "Police tend to get second-guessed in these cases. But we put our lives on the line everyday having to make these decisions. And there's plenty of time to review those decisions later on."

Contact Rocco LaDuca at rladuca@utica.gannett.com

CHASES TAKE TOLL

In the past 10 years, 20 high-speed chases in the Mohawk Valley have resulted in crashes, O-D archives show. Of those:

There were four deaths and nine injuries.

In two cases, police officers narrowly avoided being run over.