A Des Moines officer stopped an SUV near the airport at about 10:30 p.m. on Oct. 14 for a lighting equipment violation, and when the chase ended on Fleur Drive a 38-year-old man and a 31-year-old woman had been ejected from the vehicle and killed, Radio Iowa reported.
Police say the driver gave the officer a fake name, ran, scuffled with the officer and injured him, then returned to the SUV and drove away. He went north on Fleur Drive and at one point crossed into the southbound lanes. An officer used a pursuit intervention technique, or PIT; the driver lost control and the SUV crashed. The officer’s injuries were minor. Radio Iowa’s account does not say how fast the SUV was traveling, what make it was, whether either person wore a seat belt, which agency is investigating or whether anyone faces charges.
What Iowa law asks of an officer who uses a PIT
Iowa Code section 321.231, the statute that governs emergency vehicle drivers. Subsection 4 allows a peace officer to use a pursuit intervention technique when it is reasonable based on what the officer perceived at the time, and only if the officer has completed a training course approved by the Iowa law enforcement academy. The same subsection says it does not limit an officer’s objectively reasonable use of force in a pursuit…