Human Cost in LAPD Chase

Henry and Anna Polivoda survived the Holocaust, but they couldn’t escape a speeding suspect who plowed into them Saturday in a crosswalk near the Beverly Center. They remain in intensive care at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center while a daughter questions why the Los Angeles Police Department was chasing the vehicle in the first place.

We wonder too. High-speed pursuits should be reserved for motorists suspected of serious and violent crimes--those whose continued freedom would pose a greater risk to the public than the immediate dangers of a chase.

The LAPD says officers began chasing a car whose registration did not match the license plate sticker. After a few minutes the driver lost them. A police helicopter picked up the pursuit, and a short time later the driver hit several other cars and the strolling couple. Two passengers jumped out of the suspect’s car, ran into the Beverly Center and were never caught.

Officers charged the 23-year-old driver with evading arrest and hit-and-run and later determined that the car had not been stolen.

In 1996, the American Civil Liberties Union highlighted the increasing death toll resulting from LAPD chases. Since then, the number of chases has decreased, a drop that law enforcement experts attribute to a flood of lawsuits and to the deaths of suspects, police officers and bystanders. It also stems, they say, from a drop in crime and from better training, as required by state law. The LAPD, once the region’s leader in the number of police chases, reported 36% fewer pursuits between 1995 and 2000, according to the California Highway Patrol.

Those statistics represent progress, but they provide no comfort to Henry Polivoda, 79, who had never been hospitalized until Saturday. They offer no comfort to his wife, Anna, 76, whose leg was so seriously broken that doctors first thought they would have to amputate it.

What would comfort others who walk or drive in this city is a common-sense pursuit policy that puts public safety first. The LAPD says that is the policy it has. If so, did this chase follow the rules?