Remembering Victims of Police Chases

 

A Green Hill man was killed while attempting to elude law enforcement earlier this week. Several readers have sent us information about Zachary Hoffman. The nicest way we can put it is that this young man had not lived the kind of life that would have kept him safe from police stops. Yet, the 28 year-old Hoffman was not alone when he chose to run from officers; he had two passengers who quickly became hostages and were lucky to escape with their lives.

Over the years, we've conducted two polls concerning police chases. Are they justified? Each time, 80% of current and former LEOs who answered said "No!" These polls were hardly scientific, but they should give us pause.

Here's a brief list of victims of fatal local police chases:

Jon Willingham - 27 - June 2009 - Florence

Joseph Aigner - 18 - November 2019 - Florence, Killen, & Rogersville

Tab Kennedy Waddell - 32 - February 2020 - Florence

Joe Dewayne Cothrum - 35 - June 2020 - Florence

Kenneth Ray Belue - 52 - November 2020 - Tuscumbia

Of the above list, Cothrum was a passenger in a fleeing vehicle. The remaining four were drivers/operators of the vehicles and made a willing choice to flee. We're sure there are many that we have omitted.

These five, six as of this week, made some very bad decisions. The question is: Should these bad decisions have cost them their lives?