Police pursuit slightly injures motorist in Westminster

An innocent motorist was slightly injured late Monday night when an alleged drunk driver being pursued by the Westminster police broadsided her car in Long Beach. The police say her injuries are minor and consisted of a few cuts.

I wanted to get this on the record in The Times because we have so many chases here that put so many innocent lives at risk (the New Yorker did a great story on this in 2006. Here's a link to an abstract). I don't think it's an easy problem; it's hard to imagine not chasing a drunk driver. On the other hand, it's fair to ask the question whether such chases exacerbate an already bad situation.

Westminster police spokesman Van Woodson said that the city does have a pursuit policy.

"There are a lot of things we have to consider," Woodson said. "One of them is the time of day and traffic conditions. The pursuit happened in the middle of the night and traffic conditions were next to nothing. In the middle of the day, the supervisor would likely have called for termination."

One of the topics in the New Yorker story is whether technology may one day come to the rescue and provide a way for police to stop cars in their tracks with gizmos that stall engines. I hope it's true. That would provide local police a chance to avoid the damned-if-I-do and damned-if-I-don't scenario.

The press release from the Westminster Police Department is after the jump: