Q: a suspect is being wrongfully chased into on coming traffic and dies from a collision with john doe are police at fault?
This is hypothetical school assignment
A: If a driver is followed by police car(s) with flashing lights, making it obvious that the police are requesting the driver to pull over, the driver has the legal duty to pull over, not take off into oncoming traffic or otherwise. So your phrase "wrongfully chased" makes no sense. There can be a wrongful pull-over, in which event there might be a potential claim for money damages, but if a person willfully flees police, driving into oncoming traffic with injury or death resulting, there would likely be no potential claim for the person who fled (or their family in the case of a death). On the other hand, if that kind of chase occurs and it injures or kills THE OTHER DRIVER (the one hit by the driver who fled), there might be a potential claim there, depending on various factors.
Terrence H Thorgaard agrees with this answer
A: Officers must make every reasonable effort to apprehend fleeing violators using all available apprehension techniques. However, they must always consider the safety of the public and even the suspect. The decision to initiate a pursuit must be based on the officer’s conclusion that the immediate danger to the public created by the pursuit is less than the immediate or potential danger to the public should the suspect remain at large.
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