JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The tragic outcome of Thursday night’s police chase incident sparks a question: Did police put 5-year-old Vanity Cabrera in more danger by chasing her mother, than she would have been if police allowed her mother to flee?
Action News Jax dug into JSO policy to figure out whether proper protocols were followed in this case.
According to police reports when an officer observed kidnapping suspect Pamela Cabrera and approached her vehicle, she took off driving and police chased after her.
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Action News Jax Law and Safety Expert Dale Carson said police pursuits are as old as law enforcement itself, but there are inherent risks.
“There comes a point where it’s no longer safe to do this,” said Carson.
Police reported officers chased Cabrera for 30 miles and reached speeds of upwards of 90 miles per hour at some points, all the while, her 5-year-old daughter Vanity was onboard.
The end result: Cabrera’s vehicle crashing into a retention pond, where Vanity lost her life.
“The tragedy when we pursue people, other people get hurt and in this case the child dies. That was their highest duty, law enforcement’s highest duty, to protect the child and that’s a horrible outcome,” said Carson.
So, did officers follow protocol?
JSO policy specifically allows officers to initiate a pursuit if they believe a vehicle’s occupant has committed a forcible felony, which includes kidnapping.
Police must also believe the suspect poses a continued threat of death or serious bodily injury to the public.
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Police had been told Cabrera was armed with a knife.
But officers are also required to terminate a chase when ‘The risks of conducting the pursuit outweigh the risks of allowing the subject vehicle to evade capture’.
Carson told us the answer to whether the risk of the high-speed pursuit outweighed the risk of harm Cabrera posed to her daughter in this case, isn’t so clear.
“So, police are initially concerned that the mother is going to injure the child as well as racing down the road. So, you’re almost poisoned if you do, you’re poisoned if you don’t,” said Carson.
Carson said if anything, this tragedy highlights the need for alternative methods of pursuing fleeing subjects in lieu of high-speed car chases.
“There comes a point where it’s no longer safe to do this and there have to be other ways developed electronically to follow these people,” said Carson.
Carson said some of those technologies could have been used in lieu of a high-speed chase in Thursday’s police chase.
“For example, the mother probably has a phone. When you might be able to track that phone. So that almost eliminates entirely the need to pursue somebody at a high rate of speed,” said Carson.
Carson also said the deployment of spikes, the use of helicopters and even magnetic trackers can also be employed to keep tabs on a suspect’s location.
“Ultimately the mother and the child have to go to ground at some point. In other words, they’re going to stop driving, run out of gas,” said Carson.
On the legislative side, Carson said state lawmakers could set more specific limitations on when officers are allowed to pursue vehicles, or even open officers up to civil suits if they act improperly.
But Carson noted those policies could come with their own unique sets of issues.
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