Heaven help the stupid because the police should not

I recall one incident I heard about while working in St. Helens. A kid was speeding a little bit on the back roads. Lo and behold a sherriff was out there on business. He figured he would just give the kid a warning. Well, the genius decided that, while stopping might be a good idea, a better idea would be to attempt to elude the officer. So he sped up and rocketed through the backroads at high rates of speed.

Mind you, these roads are twisty and turny and it had not been too long since 4 teens died while racing on these roads. They are dangerous.

Almost before the cop could decide whether to pursue or not the kid careened into a ditch. Turned out he had been drinking...not enough to be illegal but he had been frightened by the convergence of his speeding and drinking. What would have been a warning to slow down a bit turned into reckless endangerment, attempt to elude an officer, and a couple other miscellaneous charges.

I knew the officer and believed him when he said he initially would have only given the kid a warning. Instead the kid became a felon. And yes...I blame the kid. He is the one who broke one law and decided to "fix" it by breaking others. It was his fault he crashed. And I will say in his defense...he did plead guilty and took his punishment as a person of integrity.

Not so Victor Harris. Let me summarize the situation; Harris was speeding about 20 MPH over the limit; this endangers other drivers. If you have (and I assume that is rhetorical; I do not think I know anyone who has not experienced this) experienced some yutz clipping along that much faster than other traffic you know how dangerous this can be. So the cop starts to chase him. Instead of pulling over Harris increased his speed.

At this point he is breaking multiple laws...and also acting very suspiciously. You don't have to read my blog for long to discover the extremely low regard with which I hold police officers. I pretty much rank them about 3 steps under pond slime as far as being useful, respectable, or of value. But I gotta admit...I think their duty there is to catch the perp.

They did. They pursued him. He crashed. He became a quadriplegic...and sued the police.

Note to Harris and his defenders; he was breaking the law. It was his actions that endangered him. It was his continued attempt to escape the consequences of his actions that led to his paralysis. Had he obeyed the law he would not have been in danger.

I am about as vocal against police abuses of power as anyone...but you will not find me criticizing them for pursuing him. Imagine his defense if taken to its logical conclusion. All you have to do to avoid being caught for any crime is to flee and refuse to stop. Then scream about your "rights" being violated.

The fact an organization could be found to defend Harris is a sad, sad commentary on our society. Harris got what he deserved. Once people stop blaming others for the initial person's lawbreaking we will make huge steps towards eliminating the excuses used when police actually DO overstep the boundaries of what is reasonable. But as long as idiots like Harris and his defenders are running around that moment is a long way off.