The death of three people killed on Tuesday morning, June 10, when a motorcycle being pursued by sheriff’s deputies slammed into a vehicle in Redlands has reinitiated discussion on what limits should be imposed on law enforcement officers seeking to chase down fleeing suspects.
At approximately 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputies attempted a traffic stop on a motorcycle being driven by a man later identified as Justin Sutton. The 26-year-old Sutton was, according to the department, operating the motorcycle in a reckless manner.
Sutton failed to yield, accelerating away from the sheriff’s patrol car. Blasting into the Redlands Boulevard/Tennessee Street intersection at an estimated 80 miles per hour, Sutton’s motorcycle collided with Toyota Prius being driven by 56-year-old Kenneth Stein. The force of the collision caused the Prius to roll over.
Sutton was killed instantly, while Stein died at the scene. Severely injured was the passenger in the Prius, 86-year-old Lorettaa Frug Stein. She was transferred to Loma Linda University Medical Center, where she, too, expired.
There has been a rash of either traffic collisions or vehicles leaving the roadway and/or hitting poles or structures as a result of police pursuits. On March 17, San Bernardino County Deputy Sheriff Hector Cuevas Jr. was killed when his patrol car clipped another vehicle while he was in pursuit of a stolen vehicle in Victorville and then careened into a pole at the side the road.
On March 27, Clarissa Cano of Chino was killed in the intersection of Mountain and Walnut avenues when a suspect being pursued by officers with the Ontario Police Department crashed into her car.
A handful of San Bernardino County residents and public officials have approached state officials in Sacramento with proposals that cut two ways, one of which is to enhance the penalties and punishment for anyone fleeing from law enforcement and the other calling for tightening regulations with regard to when officers light out in their vehicles after suspects who are driving a motor vehicle.
At present, law enforcement officers have wide discretion with regard to whether to initiate and continue a vehicular pursuit, and they enjoy freed from liability for engaging in a chase, no matter the outcome, as long as certain criteria and conditions are met. Under Penal Code § 13519.8 and Vehicle Code § 17004.7 peace officers qualify for immunity with regard to any untoward outcomes of a vehicle pursuit if they have received, on an annual basis, training, consisting of a class of at least one hour’s durations with regard to vehicle safety, operation, and tactics; their particular agency’s vehicle pursuit policy; assessing risk, dangers, and conditions relating to chases; public safety; officer safety; the importance of balancing the known offense and need for apprehension against the risks to officers and the public; consideration of law enforcement vehicle pursuit issues; when to initiate a pursuit; the number of involved law enforcement units permitted; responsibilities of primary and secondary law enforcement; driving tactics; helicopter assistance; communications; capture of suspects; termination of a pursuit; supervisory responsibilities; blocking, ramming, boxing, and roadblock procedures; speed limits; inter-jurisdictional considerations; conditions of the vehicle, driver, roadway, weather, and traffic; hazards to uninvolved bystanders or motorists; and reporting and post pursuit analysis.
The state of California requires law enforcement agencies to provide all peace officers employed by them with a copy of the agency pursuit policy.
According to the California Law Enforcement Vehicle Pursuit Guidelines put out by the Commission Peace Officers Standards and Training, “If the threat to public or officer safety is greater than the need for immediately apprehending the suspect, then the pursuit should not be initiated or it should be terminated.”
Officers are instructed to take into consideration the “the apparent need for immediate capture balanced against the risks to peace officers, innocent motorists, and others to protect the public; [whether there are] passenger[s] in the officer’s vehicle (e.g., citizen, witness, prisoner); [whether there are] other persons in or on pursued vehicle (e.g., passengers, minors, co-offenders, hostages); vehicular or pedestrian traffic safety and volume; the location of the pursuit (e.g., school zone, playground, residential, downtown, jurisdiction, interstate, divided highway, work zone); dangerous driving of the suspect that creates an unreasonable risk to the public; known or suspected impairment (if any) of the suspect; the time of day, weather, lighting, visibility, and environmental conditions; the road conditions and configuration (e.g., interstate, divided highway, work zone, etc.); [whether the ] suspect may be safely apprehended at a later time (e.g., suspect has been identified); the performance capabilities of law enforcement vehicle(s) and the vehicle being pursued; and the availability (time and distance) of additional resources (e.g., air support, ground units, tagging/tracking capability).”
In the year 2024, police chases and other activity orchestrated by law enforcement throughout the United States led to 692 fatalities across various categories. Among those killed were 303 drivers pursued by police; 59 motorcyclists being pursued by police; 173 uninvolved bystanders, who were struck and killed in crashes caused by police pursuits; 105 passengers riding in the vehicles being pursued by police; 60 pedestrians fatally hit by either police vehicles or vehicles fleeing from law enforcement; and 25 motorists killed in collisions with police vehicles.
The Redlands Police Department by press time was unable to account for the number o police pursuits in its jurisdiction in 2024. No such data regarding sheriff’s department pursuits in San Bernardino County in 2024 is currently available.
According to the Chino Police Department, it has a policy of restricting police chases to situations in which the need to apprehend a suspect clearly outweighs the danger posed to the public and the officers involved. Chino PD engaged in 23 nonfatal police chases in 2024.
Statewide in California From 2006 to 2020, 476 persons died in the state during pursuits, including 281 drivers fleeing from officers and 94 passengers. During the same period, chases resulted in the deaths of 91 innocent bystanders and 10 officers. In 2020, the deadliest year for chases involving law enforcement in the Golden State since 2006, 41 people died in police pursuits.