This morning in the Tampa Tribune there was a story about a driver who refused to stop and led the police on a 27 mile chase into Hernando County reaching speeds of 130mph. You can read it yourself.
Does this mean the police were chasing him up US 19 at 130mph? Does the public's safety matter to PCSO? Or are they still trying to figure out how Twitter works?
The worst part of the story is his kids were in the backseat and weren't in car seats. As it was reported in the press, this is the problem. I would definitely agree that running from police with your kids in the car is horrible. Plus, the guy didn't have a valid driver's license. And there was allegedly a gun in the car. But the police didn't know any of that - YET.
But the real problem for me as a lawyer is the reason the police were chasing him. He was apparently driving a Chevy Silverado which looked similar to the truck involved in the fatal hit and run that occurred at US 19 and Moog Road in NPR on Friday night June 15th, 2009. Does this mean everyone driving a dark colored pickup through Pasco County will be stopped? That's an awful lot of people. My brother in law has a dark colored pickup. My father does too. I happen to know where they were on Friday night, so I know it wasn't them.
But I'm concerned about the reason for the stop. The police have to have a valid reason to stop people. Everyone driving a dark colored pickup on US 19 is not a valid reason.
