Motorcycle Chase challenges NJs "No Chase Law"

[Brackstone]

http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/news/local_n ... 0100521-kc

I have a friend that is an EMT in Ridgefield park he says he thinks the police are going to get sued for this. Will be interesting to see how it turns out if it goes to court.

[storysunfolding]

If they were operating out of SOP then they'll likely get in trouble. At the same time, SOP's don't cover everything. It's really going to depend on what those guys were doing to initiate the chase. Still, fleeing the police is a felony in Va, and I'd be surprised if it wasn't in NJ since most states with a no chase law have it as the alternative. While courts have been finding police vicariously liable for any incident that happens during a chase, it would appear from what I read that only those fleeing lost their lives. In other words, they contributed over 50% to the accident and will probably take the grunt.

Last year a MD police officer chased a motorcyclist. The police officer lost control and slammed into a family in their minivan killing, if i recall, all of them. That's one of the reasons we started no chase laws, because of all the damage the chase can cause. If someone's chasing you- you tend to go faster and more erratic because you're trying to get away. Breaking off the chase causing them to start slowing down and driving regularly so they can blend in.

[RhadamYgg]

I think if they get the car/bike on high definition video they should break off the chase. Even without that - the chances of hurting someone not involved are so great that it really isn't worth it unless you are chasing a mass murderer. There is video of a young biker on a sport bike (actually 2 of them like what happened in the thread start) and one died. They were being chased for speeding.

The fines for speeding may be high, but they haven't reached debtors prison or death - yet.