THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 5, 1995 TAG: 9502030205
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 07 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Opinion
SOURCE: BY EUGENE A. DENNISON
LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
When we refer to drinking and driving, ``One'' certainly is ``Too Many,'' but we seem to have become a nation that looks at every situation and condition of mankind as if it were inviolate. We say, ``even one child going hungry is too many,'' ``even one drop of American blood being shed on foreign soil is one too many,'' ``even one child feeling inferior because of a low IQ is one too many,'' ``even one person being injured in a police chase is one too many,'' and the list goes on and on.
Judgment should tell us that we will have to suffer losses as individuals or as a society at certain times, in order to improve (or just maintain) the quality of life for the rest of society.
This doesn't mean that we have to simply weigh one individual's worth against another's, but we should use reason and ask ourselves, ``Do the measures that we propose for protecting one individual lead to the infringement of the life or safety of another individual, or do those measures have a disproportionate negative effect on society as a whole?''
One recent example of this concept is the outcry that has developed since two innocent people were killed by a driver who was being chased by police in Norfolk.
A box listing police chase victims in The Virginian-Pilot (Jan. 25) showed that 16 people have been killed in such pursuits since 1980.
It seems to be an appalling number, but these deaths occurred over a period of 14 1/2 years. Examination of the victims shows that one was a police officer and six (including last week's victims) were innocent bystanders. The other eight were the perpetrators.
Doesn't an individual give up the rights that the rest of us have when he/she commits a crime? The eight individuals were killed because they were fleeing the police and committing a crime. Certainly fright over seeing a policeman behind them couldn't be the driving force.
Most of us have been startled at one time or other to see that flashing light in the rear-view mirror, or heard that siren and knew it was meant for us. The vast majority of us just pull over to the side of the road. I can only assume, as the police must, that someone who flees must have some serious problem that they are afraid to face. Is that driver an escaped prisoner, a drunk, a drug trafficker, a robber or murderer fleeing a holdup, or does that individual pose some other type of danger to the community?
If we tell the police that they can't chase someone who flees at high speed, we would certainly be outraged that a hit-and-run driver or a murderer could escape because of the knowledge that pursuit was illegal. It would give freedom to every thief and drunk in Tidewater, with the knowledge that all they had to do was jump in a car and race away from the police, secure from being chased.
Let's use common sense and mourn the innocent victims, but remember that statistically we've lost less than one innocent life every two years as the result of high speed chases. During those same 14 1/2 years, the threat of police pursuit may have prevented thousands of people from fleeing an arrest, thus preventing endangerment to innocent lives. Sometimes, ``One may not be too many.'' Of course, the police should be prudent, but let them do their job. MEMO: Mr. Dennison, a business owner in downtown Suffolk, lives on Arcanum
Drive, Suffolk.
ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Eugene A. Dennison
Owns business, resides in Suffolk.
KEYWORDS: HIGH SPEED CHASE by CNB