Kristie's Law is a proposed California law that would limit immunity to damages (including injury or death) caused by high-speed pursuits, where law enforcement agencies have established, but not followed, written pursuit policies. Kristie's law was named for Kristina "Kristie" Marie Elena Priano, a 15-year-old honorary student, athlete, and community volunteer from Chico, California who died of an injury she suffered when her family minivan was hit by an SUV chased by police.
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On the night of January 22, 2002, Kristie, her father, mother, and brother were in a family minivan en route to her high school basketball game when their car was driven by the Toyota RAV4. Another driver, Jennifer Corron, 15, is being chased by Chico police because she has taken her mother's car without permission. The force of the collision is enough to cause the minivan to spin until it stops at its side. Mark Priano, Kristie's father, was in the hospital's intensive care unit for almost 48 hours with serious but non-life-threatening injuries. Kristie's mother and brother received minor physical injuries. Kristie, however, suffered a massive head trauma and died six days later.
June of that year, Prianos filed a furious suit against the Cronn family and the Chico Police Department alleging that the agent was ultimately responsible for a car accident that claimed Kristie's life. The lawsuit was dismissed because under the laws of the state of 1987, California Vehicle Code 17004.7, "A public agency employing peacekeepers... is immune from liability for civil damage to personal injury or death of a person... by collision. by an actual or suspected violator of the law... "
Prianos approached California State Senator Sam Aanestad, R-Grass Valley, about changing the existing law and in early 2003 the Senator did introduce the bill but withdrew it shortly thereafter to conduct further research. Then in 2004, the Senator of the State of Aanestad introduced the Senate Bill 1866 known as the Kristie Law to establish minimum guidelines and procedures for pursuing police vehicles that must be adopted and implemented by public institutions, and its law enforcement officers must comply, as a condition for obtaining immunity from accountability for injury or death caused by an innocent third party by a suspect who escaped from a police vehicle pursuit. The bill was defeated. Senator Sam Aanestad reintroduced the law in 2004, and then again in 2005. Each time the bill was defeated.
The California State Court of Appeal, Fourth Appeals District, expressed this opinion about California's immune shields that protect law enforcement agencies from accountability when officers do not follow their pursuit policy. On page 9, all judges agree with the following statement by Justice J. Rylaarsdam. He wrote, "We urge the Legislature to review this law and seriously reconsider the balance between public immunity and public safety." The balance seems to have shifted too far toward immunity and abandoned public safety, as well as compensation for innocent victims , twisted in the wind. "
Maps Kristie's Law
Aftermath
Senate Bill 719
In 2005, the California Peace Officers Research Association (PORAC) sponsored the California Senate Bill 719. "This bill will narrow down the immunities available to public entities that employ peacekeepers when a third party is injured or killed in a collision with someone who has escaped from peace. They will be immune only if they: (1) adopt and announce policies for safe conduct of motor vehicle pursuits that meet minimum state standards, and (2) provide periodic and periodic training for their officers on safe pursuit. "The Senate Bill 719 was written by State Senators, Gloria Romero and Bob Margett, not opposed by the state legislature and signed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on October 4, 2005.
Senate Bill 719 Defender
According to State Senator Sam Aanestad's website he states: "Although I support and vote in favor of SB 719, I do not feel this measure goes far enough and will not reduce the number of pursuits in California I will keep track of the actual numbers. the police pursuit in this state, the accidents resulting from this pursuit and the injuries and deaths caused by this pursuit. "
"What SB 719 proposes is a bit of changing the list of elements of pursuit policy - while not making quantitative requirements," wrote the late Jim Phillips, founder of PursuitWatch.org.
Candy Priano, Kristie's mother, is founder and executive director of Voices Insisting at PursuitSAFETY, a national nonprofit public safety organization. According to its website, PursuitSAFETY is the only national nonprofit organization available to save the lives of innocent people and police officers. PursuitSAFETY has staff to reach out to families of law-abiding citizens who are affected by the chase tragedy and work with law enforcement to find safer ways to catch escaped drivers. Candy also maintains www.kristieslaw.org, a website dedicated to the tragedy that claimed Kristie's life and the proposed California law. On this site is a list of innocent victims and police officers who died as a result of high-speed pursuit. He has stated that, "Because of the Law of Kristie, California has received national attention about leading the nation in innocent numbers of people killed in the pursuit and, consequently, under the direction of law enforcement, our state legislators now pass a law that only dresses windows for deceiving Californians and enabling law enforcement agencies to do anything fun. Lawyers always want to keep the Legislature out of this issue, but with so much pressure coming because of the Law of Kristie, they have to come up with other plans and the plan puts legislation that does not mean. "
References
External links
- http://www.kristieslaw.org - activism that supports the Law of Kristie
- http://www.pursuitsafety.org - PursuitSAFETY
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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