two vehicles full of people involved in some type of criminal activity
Was this yet another incident where the police self-escalated the situation?
I sure hope there was a precise reason this happened and not that "they smelled pot".
I'm sure the officers involved are second guessing their behavior now, its not like people die every day like this. But really, its a tough job, we aren't really in a position to judge.
So much so they had to pass laws to make it illegal for police to do chases in many cities/situations to stop them.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/police-chases-california-injured-10...
More bystanders are injured or killed during high-speed police chases than by stray bullets. In California, more than 10,000 people have been injured and over 300 people killed because of police chases in the last decade, according to newly released statistics from the California Highway Patrol.
Nationally, it's estimated nearly 300 people die each year as a result of high speed police chases.
That's a huge number. I'd love to know how many of those 300 are innocent bystanders. The fact that people involved in the chase (i.e. those running away) lose their lives seems like it's part of the risk.
Citation required. The language seems intentionally very vague and inclusive, which seems to be supported by-
http://www.nytimes.com/1992/12/26/us/alarmed-by-deaths-in-ca...
"Experts say there are few national figures on police pursuits. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration figures, based on reports from police departments, show that 305 people died in pursuits in 1991.
Of these deaths, 250 were reported to be occupants of fleeing vehicles, 46 were third-party victims in uninvolved vehicles, four were occupants of police vehicles and five were pedestrians."
Unless pursuit deaths rose a magnitude plus, I think you are misrepresenting some facts.
It's debatable what to do in the aftermath, pursue (the instant gut reaction) or sit tight and hope that other officers in the vicinity can intervene. Usually it's the former, and the consequences seem to involve carnage in one way or another (obviously tragic in this case as an innocent bystander was killed).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-strikes_law
Sometimes these criminals have nothing to lose, over even relatively insignificant infractions that will definitely result in life sentences. Not that I'm condoning criminal behavior in any way.