To the editor:
Who would want to wake up to the news “School activity bus collides with chase suspect”? Or “Family of five die in fiery crash with fleeing suspect?” The answer is “NO ONE!” But would the world keep spinning if a police chase was aborted because of safety concerns? And the net result was that a speeder got away? Or a petty thief escaped?
This past week has seen two high speed chases take place in some of the heaviest traveled sectors of Wake Forest. One resulted in the death of the evader. Crime: going about 9 miles a hour faster on Capital than many others do, resulting in a wreck on the 98 bypass after going through two red lights on S. Main St. on a Saturday evening. The driver of the tractor trailer that the suspect collided with was uninjured , physically. But it could have been a Durham football team returning home from a game in Bunn.
A few days later a scofflaw thought to be ” checking locks on parked cars” shot across the 98 bypass and crashed into the woods trying to elude law enforcement. Luckily they didn’t hit a chartered bus heading for Manteo.
The police chief has said both instances were within the guidelines of procedures. I can only say I can’t imagine how hard it must have been to say this to the family of the one fatality. Yet what would it have been like to say it to the many potential families who, out of pure grace, were spared. And all for going faster than allowed and petty burglary.
Mike Webb
Wake Forest
