There are plenty of complicated decisions a person can face in life. Whether to flee from a traffic stop should not be one of them.
Don’t run.
It sounds almost too simple to warrant saying, but recent incidents in Sampson County suggest the message bears repeating. When blue lights come on behind you, pull over. If officers tell you that you are under arrest, surrender peacefully. Whatever consequences may be waiting are almost certainly preferable to adding more charges — and putting yourself, law enforcement officers and innocent people in danger — by trying to escape.
We have reported on several pursuits involving motorists attempting to flee law enforcement, and every one serves as another reminder of just how quickly these situations can become dangerous.
Earlier this year, an officer was injured in a crash during a pursuit. More recently, a chase connected to a cocaine trafficking arrest took the suspect and officers from the Roseboro area into Clinton, where the fleeing pickup ran off the roadway and struck a building near Williams and Fayetteville streets before continuing.
Fortunately, neither incident ended with someone losing their life, but they easily could have.
That is the part too often forgotten when someone makes the decision to stomp the accelerator rather than the brake. Once a vehicle begins traveling at high speeds, its driver weaving through traffic, ignoring signals or racing along roads never designed for such speeds, the danger is no longer limited to the person behind the wheel and the officer or officers chasing them.
There are families driving home. There are people walking along sidewalks. There are children riding with their parents. There are workers inside businesses and homeowners sitting in their living rooms. There are officers who have families waiting for them to come home at the end of their shifts.
None of those people volunteered to become part of somebody else’s attempt to avoid going to jail.
And what exactly is accomplished by running?
Perhaps someone gets away in the moment, but this is not 1975. Law enforcement agencies have radios, surveillance cameras, license plate readers, databases, body cameras and networks that allow agencies to communicate with one another. Investigators have numerous resources available to identify suspects and track them down after the flashing lights have disappeared from the rearview mirror.
Getting away is not necessarily the same thing as getting away with it.
There is another point worth making: A roadside encounter is not a courtroom. If you believe you have been wrongly stopped, wrongly accused or treated unfairly, there are avenues for addressing that, too. There are attorneys, judges, court proceedings and complaint processes. You can challenge an allegation without turning a public highway into a racetrack.
Running from police does not prove innocence. It does not resolve the underlying issue. It simply creates another problem on top of whatever issue already existed.
Of course, there is an even easier way to avoid many of these situations in the first place: Abide by the law.
We realize that suggestion will not solve every police pursuit. People make mistakes, panic and sometimes act irrationally when they see flashing blue lights behind them. But that moment of panic does not have to become a decision that puts an entire community at risk.
Whatever awaits you when you stop, face it.
A ticket can be paid or contested. A charge can be answered in court. A warrant can be dealt with through the legal system. None of those things is worth an innocent motorist being struck, an officer being injured or a family receiving the phone call that someone they love will never be coming home.
The destination for someone fleeing law enforcement is usually the same place he or she was trying to avoid in the first place — only with more charges waiting upon arrival.
Save yourself the gas. Save yourself the charges. More importantly, save everyone else from being placed in danger because of a decision they had nothing to do with.
When the blue lights come on, pull over…it’s really that simple.