GA Deputy indicted on feloney charges..

[idontknow08]

On the news this morning they did a story on this and it just seems wrong to me. It seems a grand jury has indicted a Douglas County sheriff's deputy on charges that he killed another sheriff's deputy's wife during a car accident.

This deputy was on duty responding to a call when he struck a car, they said in the story the deputy was not running his siren or lights when the crash occurred. Is that up to the the deputy / officer/ agent whether or not to use lights and sirens while responding to a call?

The deputy will have to surrender in the next couple of days, I guess that's after they fire him.

This just seems unconscionable, why would they do this to the deputy? I could understand it if the guy was drunk / stoned out of his mind while on duty and responding to a call, but that was not the case.

[Aussie George]

On the news this morning they did a story on this and it just seems wrong to me. It seems a grand jury has indicted a Douglas County sheriff's deputy on charges that he killed another sheriff's deputy's wife during a car accident.

This deputy was on duty responding to a call when he struck a car, they said in the story the deputy was not running his siren or lights when the crash occurred. Is that up to the the deputy / officer/ agent whether or not to use lights and sirens while responding to a call?

The deputy will have to surrender in the next couple of days, I guess that's after they fire him.

This just seems unconscionable, why would they do this to the deputy? I could understand it if the guy was drunk / stoned out of his mind while on duty and responding to a call, but that was not the case.

There could be more to the story than the media print/reveal.

There are some cops who screw up.

In this case it might be the Deputy...or it might be those that charged him.

Without all the details it is impossible to say what is going on.

[Legoate]

In CA we are required to drive with "due regard" to public safety when responding to emergency calls. Of course, what "due regard" is, is up to to interpretation after something bad happens.

What a grandmotherly citizen may feel is reckless behavior, may be felt to be normal daily driving for a police officer. There is no set standard, just what a Jury and DA feels at the time you are facing them. It's like rolling the dice everytime you run fast to a call. If you make it without an accident, you can be a hero, if you get in a crash you can be facing criminal/civil penalties for the rest of your life.

[mcsap]

I know NOTHING about this case but I do know that in order for traffic to yield to me as an emergency vehicle....I must be using lights and or a siren.

Are there times when I get close to a robbery call that I can the siren ? Yes. have I squeaked through intersections without emergency equip on ? yes. Am I really, really careful ? YES.

There are a lot of factors that come into play here. The lesser seriousness of the call should indicate a lesser repsonse. Some newer officers like to run lights and siren to just about anything. Some officers tend to hurry and not use any equipment.

We have a lot of legal authority to do a lot of things as a LEO, but we still must remember that we cannot just do anything in any manner. Use care and caution when running hot and never presume that the other traffic has seen you and will yield.

[Aussie George]

.....Use care and caution when running hot and never presume that the other traffic has seen you and will yield.

I'd go further and say that you should always assume that the other traffic will not see you and even if they have will not yeild.

[retdetsgt]

A young police officer from a suburb of Portland was indicted and convicted of manslaughter for running a stop sign and crashing into a family in a mini-van three or four years ago. Someone in the van was killed, I don't recall off the top of my head who. He initially tried to say he has his lights and sirens on, but a gaggle of witnesses said he didn't. It also turned out the call he was headed to wasn't all that much of an emergency either.

This same officer had been received bad evals on his driving habits as a trainee. Some young officers think they're bullet and crash proof both, I guess.

[GoDirectly2Jail]

The phrase, "Due regard for the safety of others" is pounded into the academy students during driver training. In Va, the code states emergency vehicles must have activated both lights AND siren (or exhaust whistle, or air horn) and be responding to a legit emergency.

Even if you do everything right, it's still not much protection, as you can still get hung out to dry by a jury in Federal court.

[Creeker]

I know absolutely nothing about this case, but I firmly believe that a Jury should be educated with a few ridealongs both with and without emergency equipment running.

It difficult for Joe Public to understand how many times you can arrive safer at a call by traveling faster than other traffic without emergency equipment going than by turning on emergency equipment all over the car.

You won't hear it from the Bosses, because everything is about liability anymore. A Cop is going to get burnt no matter how many things he does right, if someone gets hurt despite his efforts and intentions.

[retdetsgt]

It difficult for Joe Public to understand how many times you can arrive safer at a call by traveling faster than other traffic without emergency equipment going than by turning on emergency equipment all over the car.

I agree, nothing causes brain freeze among motorists more than a light and siren. But they have to be even more careful. It's not the fault of the person the cop runs into when he's running silent. I'd be pretty pissed if I got hit by a cop going to a hot call running stoplights, stop signs, etc. and not paying enough attention to other traffic. I will always yield to a police car, running code or not, but if I don't hear the siren or see overheads, I could well not notice him. Without lights and siren, he's just another reckless driver in the eyes of the law and common sense.

In the case I cited, the people were just driving down a through street, they had no idea a cop was going to blow a stop sign at high speed. No sympathy from me.

I think we've all run silent to hot calls, but I've always been extra cautious to make sure I had a clear intersection before I entered it.

[Creeker]

I agree, nothing causes brain freeze among motorists more than a light and siren. But they have to be even more careful. It's not the fault of the person the cop runs into when he's running silent. I'd be pretty pissed if I got hit by a cop going to a hot call running stoplights, stop signs, etc. and not paying enough attention to other traffic. I will always yield to a police car, running code or not, but if I don't hear the siren or see overheads, I could well not notice him. Without lights and siren, he's just another reckless driver in the eyes of the law and common sense.

In the case I cited, the people were just driving down a through street, they had no idea a cop was going to blow a stop sign at high speed. No sympathy from me.

I think we've all run silent to hot calls, but I've always been extra cautious to make sure I had a clear intersection before I entered it.

I agree. I've never blown signs or lights without any equipment, but I have done a lot of faster driving. Its amazing how wig-wags and nothing else will get traffic over & out of the way much quicker.