Wednesday, July 31, 2002

[Editor's note: The following letter was sent to the governor and to news media.]

Dear Gov. Barnes:

On Saturday, July 27, at 7 p.m., the city of Peachtree City experienced another high-speed chase through our city by another police agency.

This chase resulted in the death of an innocent victim, a resident of my city, that was returning home from grocery shopping.

The police chase started in the city of Luthersville [about 20 miles southwest in Meriwether County] after the suspect, a female, was involved in an accident and left the scene with three small children in her car.

The Luthersville police officers, in two separate marked police vehicles, chased the suspect from their jurisdiction through Coweta County and into Peachtree City.

Upon reaching Peachtree City, the chase continued through a heavily used shopping center [The Avenue] located at Ga. Highway 74 and Ga. Highway 54. The chase continued back onto Hwy. 54 reaching speeds in excess of 100 mph as the chase headed east toward the county and the city of Fayetteville.

The police officers in my city were busy trying to block intersections to prevent a tragic accident, which finally occurred, in a massive and explosive deadly collision, just outside the city limits.

The results: one innocent victim dead at the scene, three children hurt, two critical, and one suspect in critical condition. This all occurred due to a suspect leaving the scene of a traffic accident and a suspected DUI charge.

Honorable Governor, this high-speed police chase carnage has to stop. Almost every day on the news we hear about police chases that hurt innocent victims. In many cases, the chase is over a minor traffic violation where the suspect was known to the police and could have been arrested later.

I would like to think that common sense would override the need to continue a police chase when it is obvious that innocent peoples' lives are at stake or the conditions too dangerous to continue.

The theory that failure to chase would send the word that you can run from the police does not hold water. That is why police have radios. In most cases, suspects will find a way to leave the vehicle once they feel they can get away without being caught.

The Peachtree City Police Department has one of the most restrictive police chase policies in the state of Georgia. I would hope that other police departments would have a similar restrictive police that they would enforce.

In the event they do not or will not, I believe it is the duty of the state to adopt laws to force police departments to comply with due regard to public safety, and to hold them responsible when they fail to do so.

Governor, I call upon you and the state of Georgia elected officials to please step in and try to develop legislation to prevent another death of an innocent person. It is the right thing to do. I even offer my services to help you in any way I can.

After almost 30 years in police service, 13 years as chief of police in Peachtree City, and 16 years as a police officer in the city of Savannah, the last five years as commander of the homicide division, I am speaking from a base of knowledge that very seldom is a high-speed chase necessary when the innocent public may pay the ultimate price with their lives.

Protecting the public from harm is one of the major functions of government. Our duty is to do the right thing at the right time. I believe the time has come and it is incumbent for us to act.

I am available to discuss this matter with you or your staff, so please feel free to call upon me at any time. Let us work together to save lives.

James V. Murray

Chief of Police

Peachtree City

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