Rethinking the (Florence) Police Chase

The following is a guest commentary from a concerned and highly informed Colbert County citizen. His concern lies with the current policy of the Florence Police, a department which gives chase in almost all circumstances. There are always two sides to every issue, but we feel this "catch at all costs" policy causes more harm than good.

The author of this blog mentions mayhem that resulted from chases originating outside Lauderdale County, but there have been many more incidents which were encapsulated in Florence proper--among them the death of Jon Willingham. We understand these individuals did not have to run. Still, it is the job of our police to protect all citizens, even those who have made poor choices.

We want to stress that we receive complaints concerning law enforcement on a regular basis, some verifiable and many more that are not. Of those complaints, the fewest concern the City of Florence Police Department under Chief Rick Singleton. We consider Chief Singleton a paragon of what a leader should be, but that does not mean current policies cannot be improved. We urge everyone to read this:

Late Friday night/early Saturday morning Colbert Sheriffs' Department got a call for a suicidal man on Softly Lane in the Spring Valley community. When the deputies arrived on scene the man took off in his car. The deputies chased the vehicle into Lauderdale County where Florence Police took over the lead in the chase. FPD chased him to his mother's house in Killen where he shot himself in the head.

I am usually a big supporter of LE, but let me tell you the problems I see. Curtis Russell had not hurt anyone else. LE knew who he was and where to find him. By cornering him, in his mind a shot to the head was the only way out. This is the third time in recent years I have seen this same result involving FPD.

This first time was on 6th Street in Muscle Shoals. FPD chased Corey Carwyle who was suicidal, boxed him in, and he shot himself. The next incident was on Wilson Dam Road when FPD chased a man for forging a prescription through Florence across Patton Island and the man crashed his car into a 18 wheeler hauling lumber between 2nd St. and Avalon Ave. on Wilson Dam Rd.

When any emergency vehicle cuts on their lights and sirens it poses a danger to anyone in traffic and the risks of running Code 3 should be heavily considered when a unit is responding. I believe FPD should reevaluate their procedures. Is the risk to life worth chasing someone down who does not pose a threat to others. Especially when LE knows who the person is they are chasing and where they can be found later?

Related post: Another Florence Police Chase & Jon Willingham is Dead

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Shoalanda

From Forums to Blogs to Twitter...

A recent TimesDaily interview with computer expert Jim Fisher of Florence touched on the possibility of blogs becoming passe' as new venues become available. Obviously, individuals who blog may well become tired of the effort or cease for many other reasons. We don't see this being the case with most political blogs.

No, not every word printed in every political blog is true, but these venues still bring information to the public that most commercial media refuse to publish. We get at least one request a week for an "investigation" into various local governments and similar entities. We check out every one, but some times there's just no more to the story than has already been published. Please feel free to offer suggestions for future blogs; we can't promise to use them, but we do our best to investigate the problem or situation.

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Quote from TimesDaily concerning Russellville police chief Chris Hargett: My eight year old grandson uses better grammar than that.

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Numbers? Since the inception of this column, we have used Blog Patrol as a visitor counter for our site. We have been aware that this system is down much of the time, and numbers shown do not reflect all visitors. While Blog Patrol has shown our average unique visitor count to be around 750-800 per week, our publisher had calculated the actual count at around 1,000.

Recently we added Stat Counter to double check figures and have been pleasantly surprised at the actual, verified count. Last week we charted 2,600 unique visitors. This may not reflect our numbers every week due to heavy traffic related to the death of Jon Willingham; however, for the next few weeks at least, you will see two counters on this blog while we compare their accuracy. Thanks for making us one of the top political blogs in the state.

Another Florence Police Chase & Jon Willingham is Dead

Jon Willingham had an infectious smile, a bright future, and a brother Josh who plays for the Washington Nationals baseball team. Now Jon Willingham is dead, killed early Saturday morning during a police chase.

Jon graduated from Mars Hill Bible School in 2000 and attended his brother's alma mater, the University of North Alabama, for two years. Nothing in his background would have suggested his life would be anything but successful, much less end in this manner.

The chase began when Florence police officers attempted to stop Jon for a noise violation; according to authorities, the pursuit never topped 50 miles an hour. Yet, Jon failed to make an acute turn and lost control of his car. In less than 10 minutes, 27 years of life was snuffed out, and we do have to ask why.

This is not the first Florence police chase in recent memory in which an individual lost his life. We've read both the pros and cons of such pursuits. Certainly no one is going to change his or her mind concerning the necessity of such chases because of what's written in one blog.

Alabama State Troopers will be investigating the death, since Florence Police are involved. The names of the two officers who instigated the chase have not been released.

Our sincerest sympathy to the Willingham Family. The family has requested that memorials be made to Mars Hill Bible School in Florence.