Two Indiana troopers were killed by fleeing vehicles. Could their deaths prompt change?

A police procedure two Indiana State troopers were using when they were fatally struck by fleeing vehicles months apart has had similarly deadly consequences across the country.

Both troopers were deploying stop sticks, which are thrown into the roadway to puncture tires and slow down a vehicle. But using the tool comes with risk and can leave law enforcement exposed to a vehicle barreling in their direction.

The conversation around the practice has been ongoing for years and some departments are looking into alternatives.

In addition to the two Indiana State Police troopers, at least 17 other officers across the country have been struck and killed by vehicles while using stop sticks in the past 10 years, according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.

The officers killed had worked for their departments for anywhere from 4 months to 22 years in both rural and urban parts of the country.

Indiana State Police Trooper Aaron N. Smith, 33, was trying to use stop sticks to slow down a stolen vehicle from Missouri when he was struck and killed in Hendricks County, close to Indianapolis, on June 28.

Master Trooper James Bailey, 50, was killed in a similar crash north of Fort Wayne in March. That chase began when an off-duty officer saw a driver speeding and driving erratically on the interstate. Bailey was trying to put stop sticks in the roadway before he was struck by the fleeing driver.

The drivers in both crashes were arrested and are facing murder charges, court records show.

Some departments no longer use stop sticks

Officials in Boone County, Kentucky, decided it was time for a change after a 20-year veteran of the department was hit by a vehicle while trying to deploy stop sticks in October 2021.

The lieutenant survived the crash but was left with a fractured leg and stitches in one of his arms.

“After we assessed it and spoke about it, the sheriff decided that the risk to use them outweighs the necessity to have them,” said Major Philip Ridgell of the Boone County Sheriff's Office.

Ridgell admitted that stop sticks can be a useful tool. Slowing down a fleeing vehicle can protect the public, but real-world conditions often put officers at too much risk, he argued.

“Quite honestly what we have seen across the country and experienced here is oftentimes you are not surrounded by the right conditions for it to be safe,” Ridgell said. “We can never guarantee that there's going to be a barrier to jump behind for our deputies and that’s where the risk comes in.”

To deploy the stop sticks safely, officers need a traffic median, telephone pole or some other barrier to put between themselves and a fleeing vehicle. Often, these protections are not available, Ridgell said.

The sheriff’s office, which serves a county outside of Cincinnati, terminates pursuits if they become too dangerous.

“There are going to be people who will suggest that suspects will flee more often if they hear about (our policies),” Ridgell said. “A thing to consider is the deployment of stop sticks doesn't always work. We weren't batting a thousand with that. There are other ways to catch a suspect than in a pursuit.”

Instead of trying to end pursuits with stop sticks, Boone County deputies often look for identifying features of the suspect or vehicle to use in a follow-up investigation.

Boone County is not the only department to no longer use stop sticks. The Dallas Police Department stopped using the tools in 2012.

“It’s an officer-safety issue,” said then-Dallas police Assistant Chief Mike Genovesi in a story from The Dallas Morning News. “In a perfect world, they can be effective, but I have seen too many instances where the reality that we live in is far from that. There’s a lot of danger, a lot of safety issues with them.”

The Dallas Police Department declined a request for an interview for this article.

The same year Dallas police banned the use of the tool by its officers, an alert was published in the FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin warning of dangers with deploying stop sticks, a practice that began in 1996. The bulletin encouraged law enforcement agencies to weigh other options, including the use of aerial surveillance or the PIT maneuver, during which an officer uses their car to bump and spin out the fleeing vehicle.

Are there other alternatives to stop sticks?

There are not many practical alternatives to stop sticks, but one sheriff’s office outside of Chicago is putting a new tool into practice.

The Kane County Sheriff’s Office has opted to try MobileSpike. The technology allows deputies to remain in their vehicles and push a button that activates an arm with a tire-deflating device attached.

The deputy lines their vehicle up so that the suspect will run over the deflating device. The department has four MobileSpikes already and ordered six more, said Lt. Paul Warren of the Kane County Sheriff's Office.

They have been using the new tech in Kane County for just over a year and it's successfully helped end two pursuits, officials said.

The sheriff’s office began looking into alternatives for stop sticks after a deputy trying to deploy the tool was almost struck by a fleeing suspect, Warren said.

“With this, you are still inside your vehicle,” Warren said. “Even if there is a crash, you are still protected by your vehicle."

The largest hurdle for other departments to try MobileSpike or a different alternative to stop sticks is cost. It costs about $7,000 to get one vehicle equipped with MobileSpike up and running versus a couple hundred dollars for a stop stick, Warren said.

“Going the new route has definitely been safer for our officers than the traditional spikes,” said Commander David Wolf of the Kane County Sheriff’s Office.  “It's more costly but if it saves a life, it's worth it.”

Experts from national police organizations weigh in

Jim Burch, president of the National Policing Institute, said stop sticks and the risks associated with using them have been discussed in the law enforcement community for many years.

“For us, it’s more of a question about training and under what circumstances we use them,” Burch said.

Bill Alexander, of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, agreed that the conversation for most people in law enforcement has not been about putting an end to the use of stop sticks entirely, but ensuring training is adequate.

“It really is very dangerous,” Alexander said. “You are talking about a multiple thousand-pound hunk of metal flying through streets.”

What are the next steps for Indiana State Police?

After the deaths of Bailey and Smith, officials at the Indiana State Police will be taking a look at their policies related to deploying stop sticks.

“As with any critical incident, an evaluation will take place,” said ISP Sgt. John Perrine via email.

Contact Jake Allen at jake.allen@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter @Jake_Allen19.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Police and stop sticks: Could Indiana trooper deaths create change?