On Wednesday, the 710 freeway, a major artery in metropolitan Los Angeles, was shut down for over four hours as a police pursuit resulted in a standoff with the man (wanted for a previous kidnapping) sandwiched between two SWAT team military vehicles on the freeway.According to the Los Angeles Police Department, the suspect had previously been deported to Mexico for another crime and had re-entered the country illegally. A law enforcement spokesperson said this could be the third strike for the suspect.
Traffic was at a standstill for the seven miles of the freeway closed in both directions. Thousands of vehicles flooded onto neighborhood streets.
Officials said they operated by the book Wednesday and proceeded with extra caution because they believed the driver might have been armed. After the arrest, they determined that he had no gun.
"When it comes to human life, traffic becomes secondary," said Sheriff's Department spokesman Steve Whitmore.
But during the standoff, a man was killed in an vehicle accident, apparently due to the freeway shutdown. According to the California Highway Patrol, the man's car had slowed from 50 miles per hour to 5 mph as he saw the slowing traffic. The car following him did not slow down and crashed full-speed into the victim.
How does law enforcement balance the life of the suspect against the life of the accident victim? Not to mention the thousands of hours of lost productivity and major inconvenience to all the people stuck in traffic.
My gut reaction is that a public example should be made of the suspect, to discourage others from leading police on high speed chases. I don't support capital punishment, but twenty five years of hard labor would be fitting.
