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A teen speeds. Police ram car. Who's at fault?
Opposing sides say the ruling on an upcoming Supreme Court case might encourage dangerous driving – or increased use of force.
By Warren Richey | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitorfrom the February 26, 2007 edition
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WASHINGTON - Victor Harris zoomed at 80 to 90 miles per hour in his Cadillac covering nearly nine miles in six minutes with a deputy sheriff hot on his tail. But when the chase ended in a violent crash that left the 19-year-old driver a quadriplegic, the roles reversed.
Now it is the deputy sheriff being pursued – by lawyers who say the officer violated the teen driver's constitutional rights when he forced the speeding Cadillac off the road.
Tuesday, Mr. Harris's case arrives at the US Supreme Court where the justices must decide whether drivers who speed and disobey police commands to pull over nonetheless are constitutionally protected against having their cars rammed by law-enforcement officials in high-speed chases. The Fourth Amendment prohibits police from using unreasonable tactics during arrests.
A ruling in the case could set national policy for the measures police can use in high-speed chases.
More than 350 individuals are killed each year in the US in crashes related to high-speed pursuits by law enforcement, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The statistics show that in most instances – nearly 230 times per year – it is the fleeing suspect who dies. In contrast, roughly five police officers are killed each year in high-speed chases. The rest of the fatalities are bystanders, according to the NHTSA.
At issue in the Harris case is whether Coweta County (Ga.) Deputy Sheriff Timothy Scott acted reasonably when he tried to bring Harris's car to a stop by ramming it during the March 2001 pursuit.
If he acted reasonably the deputy is entitled to qualified immunity and Harris's lawsuit must be dismissed. In contrast, if he used excessive force in a way that was clearly established to be unconstitutional at the time of the chase, the deputy loses his immunity and can be sued.
Harris's lawyers say the deputy used excessive and deadly force against a fleeing traffic offender who posed no immediate threat to others. Craig Jones of Atlanta admits that his client was speeding and that the teen panicked and sped away. But he denies that Harris ever did anything to threaten the police or other motorists.
"The law requires that there must be some violent resistance to being arrested as opposed to merely running away," Mr. Jones says. He says police are not permitted to shoot an unarmed fleeing suspect in the back, and likewise they are not allowed to use the kind of high-speed pursuit tactics that might kill or paralyze a driver because of a mere traffic violation.
Deputy Scott's lawyers view the case from a different perspective. They say Harris posed an escalating danger to the public through his foot-to-the-floor driving and that the deputy acted reasonably to defuse the danger posed by Harris.
"He was driving at speeds averaging 90 miles per hour on two-lane roads with cars in both directions. If there was a car in his way he would drive on the wrong side of the road," says Scott's lawyer, Philip Savrin of Atlanta. "This had all the earmarks of ending in tragedy."
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