On the front page of Tuesday’s News-Star, there was a picture of a crashed Shawnee Police cruiser along with a very disturbing story. It seems a patrolman stopped a car on a simple traffic violation. The officer had the driver’s license and all information in their hands, including name, address, no outstanding warrants, and so forth. The violator made a bad decision to run. However, in my opinion the officer made an even worse decision to pursue at speeds of near 100 miles per hour down busy Harrison Street. The police could have simply arrested this person at a later date. At the time of the chase, this was only a minor traffic violation.
Less than two weeks ago, I observed a police cruiser heading north on Kickapoo Street and Federal, again at a very high rate of speed, and commented to a friend that someone was going to be killed. This was in the middle of the afternoon, in heavy traffic.
This chase on Harrison Street ended up badly enough but could have ended up with an officer, civilian or even the violator dead.
Maybe the motto of our Police Department should be “To Serve, Protect and Exercise Good Judgment.”
This dangerous pursuit should have been called off immediately. It literally screams of over reaction that endangered many lives.
Ray Mullen Sr.
Shawnee
