If your loved one died because of a high-speed police pursuit in Texas, you might have legal recourse against the law enforcement agency and in some instances, against the police officer. It can be hard to know who you can sue for the death of your loved one in these situations. Working with an experienced Texas automobile accident attorney can be the difference between winning and losing.
Who Is to Blame When the Officer Follows the Department’s High-Speed Pursuit Policy?
You might think that a police officer who did not violate her department’s high-speed chase protocols when engaging in a pursuit that killed someone would be blameless, but this is not always the case. The Texas Department of Public Safety has assigned fault to officers who kill people in chases that complied with their department’s policies.
The Risks of Police Chases
About half of all high-speed police pursuits kill someone. On the average, police chases will kill one person a day, every day in America. Since about 90 percent of police chases in Texas are for nonviolent crimes, these pursuits kill a lot of innocent people. Dallas reduced its chases by 90 percent by enacting stricter laws that only allow police pursuits in violent crimes.
Innocent bystanders in Austin have died because the police chased suspects of non-violent crimes. If all Texas cities enacted the same restrictions that Dallas has, it would prevent the senseless deaths of innocent people.
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