South Bend officer suspended for violating pursuit policy
SOUTH BEND — A South Bend police officer was given an unpaid suspension Wednesday by the city's Board of Public Safety for unsafe driving during a vehicular pursuit.
The six-day suspension given to officer Lauren Slisher comes as police departments in the area have dealt with concerns regarding pursuit policies in the wake of a number of recent chases resulting in crashes.
According to a letter to the board from South Bend Police Chief Scott Ruszkowski, Slisher "passed a civilian vehicle improperly and at excessive speed" and "disregarded a traffic control device" before turning her lights on during a brief chase with a motorcycle in the early morning hours of May 22 on North Ironwood Drive and then Edison Road.
More:Fatal Mishawaka crash renews questions about police chases
Scanner traffic indicates the chase lasted less than one minute, but Ruszkowki found Slisher went against multiple points of the department's policy on vehicular pursuits by not "placing a priority or due regard on/for the safety of the public" and for not taking into account a combination of factors before initiating the pursuit.
Before chasing a suspect in a vehicle, the department's policy states officers should consider:
road and weather conditions,
how many vehicles and pedestrians are on the roadway
the seriousness of the offense
the relative performance levels of the officer's and suspect's vehicle and the officer's experience level
The motorcycle Slisher was pursuing did commit a traffic violation, the letter said, but the severity of the offense did not warrant the excessive speeds or "improper passing."
Ruszkowski's letter also stated supervisors have verbally reprimanded Slisher for similar instances since she was hired in June 2021. However, a post made to the department's social media pages in March praised Slisher for arresting two men following a vehicular pursuit in which the suspects' vehicle "disregarded multiple stop signs as it weaved in and out of traffic" before its battery cable broke loose and the car shut down.
The board unanimously approved the six-day, unpaid suspension without discussion at Wednesday's meeting.
Pursuit policies and deaths
The letter sent to the board does not indicate anyone was injured in the pursuit that led to disciplinary action against Slisher, though police chases have resulted in a number of crashes and handful of deaths in St. Joseph and Elkhart counties over the past few years.
In 2018, Justin Gorny was fired from the South Bend Police Department for hitting and killing 22-year-old Erica Flores while responding to a reckless driver call. Gorny reached speeds of close to 100 mph before he collided with Flores' car near the intersection of West Western Avenue and South Kaley Street. Flores' family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city, though that case appears far from a resolution.
A recent lawsuit from northwest Indiana was settled for $1.2 million when police from East Chicago and Hammond pursued a suspect who wound up killing a 13-year-old girl in a crash.
Similar situations unfolded locally in 2020 when three people were killed after being hit by suspects fleeing from police.
In February 2020, 58-year-old John Riedle was killed near the intersection of Byrkit and McKinley avenues after being hit by a Jeep running from police. Police from multiple agencies, including the Elkhart County Police Department, Mishawaka Police Department and Indiana State Police, were involved in the chase which also seriously injured a passenger in Riedle's car.
Then in December of the same year, Clayton McClish, 19, and Elizabeth Johnson, 18, were hit and killed by suspects fleeing from Mishawaka police on Spring Street.
A few police chases ended in traffic crashes last year as well. In March 2021, a one-minute chase near the University Park Mall on Grape Road ended in a crash while a 20-minute pursuit through Mishawaka and parts of South Bend in May resulted in the suspect's vehicle being pinned against a wall on Lincoln Way West.
In Elkhart, an outside review of the department found over 60% of pursuits between 2016 and 2018 stemmed from mere traffic offenses. Almost 30% of those pursuits ended in crashes and 14% resulted in someone being injured, the report found.
Most advocates and many policing institutes recommend departments restrict pursuits to violent felony offenses. Many local departments list the alleged offense as a factor officers should consider when initiating a pursuit, but none limit pursuits to certain criminal offenses.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: South Bend officer suspended for violating pursuit policies
