What happened
On January 23, 2008 Birmingham Police officers attempted to stop a van for suspicious behavior. The driver, Anthony Warren, led officers on a high speed chase that lasted 22 minutes. Warren attempts to run over a Birmingham police officer that was standing on the highway trying to throw spike strips. The officer appears to be hit and rolls away. A squad soon forces the van off the road and the van rolls several times ejecting Warren. Warren lands on the ground unconscious. Several officers run up, one hits him with a nightstick, and several strike him with their fists.
At Warren’s trial for attempted murder over a year later, the prosecutor observes the video and notifies Birmingham police administration. Chief A.C. Roper fires five officers and called in the Alabama Bureau of Investigation for possible criminal charges against the officers. Roper also stated there will be disciplinary action against supervisors who failed to report the incident to higher ups.
Warren pleads guilty to 1st degree assault and receives a 20 year prison sentence.
Video
How can officers avoid the same situation?
First, there is no way you can avoid vengeful feelings when you see a suspect attempt to kill a fellow officer or an innocent civilian. That is part of being human. But you have to act appropriately despite those emotions.
One way to work through it is by following good officer safety. The officers at the end of this chase rush the suspect even though he just attempted to kill an officer.
A better option is to do a felony stop. Going through the routine of a felony stop can help keep officers disciplined despite anger’s lure to lose control.
Just because the suspect wrecked out doesn’t mean he is not a danger. Here is a video showing a suspect shooting at officers despite wrecking out at the end of a car chase. Go to 1:00 if you want to skip ahead to the shooting.
Throwing spike strips
Throwing spike strips has become more dangerous recently. Several officers in Texas, Lieutenant Stuart Alexander and Sergeant Randy White, were killed this year by suspects running into them during police chases. Alexander was attempting to deploy spike strips and White was blocking oncoming traffic.
Attempt to throw spike strips from behind cover. At least your squad car but preferably something bigger and attached to the ground like the concrete base of a big light pole.
Final Thoughts
Car chases, shootings, and other critical incidents always cause an emotional response in officers. Personal and career survival require that you keep them under control. Following established procedures like felony stops help because officers just move through the preestablished steps. Other officers know those procedures and can coordinate their efforts.
When an officer rushes a suspect instead of staying behind cover at the end of a chase, he leads other officers into a bad situation.
Those are my thoughts and suggestions. What are yours?
Additional Links:
Johnny Law has a good post about this chase at his blog, the Johnny Law Chronicles.
Tape of Beating Leads to Firing of 5 Officers by the New York Times
Attorney: 5 fired Alabama police followed training by the Associated Press
Also check out our article about the importance of felony stops.
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We all know the burden of stress this job carries with it but as the Spartans mentioned the moments following a hight speed chase are not a good time to lose your sense of professionalism. Whatever this guy did was not worth five officers losing their jobs over. These are the times to look after one another and let the cooler heads prevail so that others don’t roll.