Summary: Officer Speedy's Case: Officer Speedy

Summary of Facts Officer Speedy was patrolling in her cruiser last night and noticed a black sports car that was speeding and driving recklessly. The black sports car almost hit the officer. Officer Speedy then took the time to pursue the black sports car through downtown Saint Leo. Their speeds were in excess of 100 miles per hour around midnight when many people were out enjoying the night life. These people included pedestrians and those going to their vehicles to either head home or to other businesses in the area. Officer Speedy lost control of her vehicle and ended up hitting and killed a pedestrian on the sidewalk in pursuit of the vehicle. The driver of the black vehicle, who could have possibly gotten away, turned around and looked
This way they would have been able to tell her if she should proceed or to cut the chase off. The second issue is to determine if Officer Speedy had her lights and siren on at the time of the chase. It does not indicate such. If lights and siren were used then this would have warned others in the area to stay back or away from said area which could have prevented the third issue. The third issue is that Officer Speedy lost control of her vehicle by going at such a high rate of speed. This caused her to jump a curb which in turn led her to hit and kill an innocent bystander. The person that she was in pursuit of also was killed because he decided to turn around and basically rubberneck. The issues at hand are if Officer Speedy and the Sheriff are to be held liable for both deaths in response to the chase. The family of the pedestrian is threatening to sue the city of Saint Leo along with the Sheriff. The relatives of the driver of the black sports vehicle is threatening to do the same thing. The absence of a “hot pursuit” policy can very well threaten the Sheriff’s case. Officer Speedy should be disciplined; however, the extent of that discipline has yet to be determined at this
If there was a policy in place that would have indicated whether or not Officer Speedy was to follow proper procedure, there could have possibly been a different outcome other than the one that is currently as fault. The relatives of the black sports car driver also have the same feeling. Their relative was killed when they turned around to see what happened to the officer that was in pursuit of them. This can be argued on the side of the officer because if they were not speeding in the first place, there would not have been an