Oregon Police Pursuit Policy Hits Home
Following hundreds of deaths and injuries of innocent bystanders, police departments nationwide have been forced to re-consider their pursuit policies. The [Oregon] Register Guard provides yet another example of a dangerous high speed police chase. This time 'round, Albany police radared a motorcyclist doing 81mph. When the biker kept on going, Officer Flierl activated his lights and siren and tried to overtake the motorcycle on Hwy. 126, a two-lane road that winds through the Cascade Mountains. Biker boy passed a vehicle in a no-passing zone before merging onto Highway 20, and then overtook seven to 11 more vehicles at speeds that "might have" topped 100 mph. Eventually, Buckley Duane Church II pulled over. Police charged him with felony attempt to elude a police officer, reckless driving and recklessly endangering another person (his passenger, his sixteen year-old daughter). Although we're happy to see a successful resolution to what could have easily been another tragic situation, it's worth noting that Mr. Church II is an off-duty police officer. Perhaps the court will order Mr. Church II to educate his fellow officers about how NOT to trigger the "fight or flight" response.
More by Paul Niedermeyer
Comments
Join the conversation
I need to "flame" that idiot Church II, but I want to remain on this site!!!! And with his daughter on board, too? Geez.
Good example for his daughter, evading the popo. Then again, he "might have" exceeded 100mph, which isn't particularly fast, so it's possible he didn't know he was being pursued. Given wind noise and lack of mirrors, it is quite probable that his daughter didn't know. Still, if I had a kid on the back of my bike I'm not riding like that.