Since
2016 at least 30 fleeing drivers have died after police performed a PIT
maneuver
Justin
Battenfield died when a state trooper bumped his truck at 109 miles per hour,
using what is known as a Precision Immobilization Technique, or PIT.
WASHINGTON
— Just as the sun was rising on April 10 near Fort Smith, Arkansas, 34-year-old
Justin Battenfield ran a red light in the black Dodge Ram pickup he had
purchased a few days before.
For
reasons that will never be known, Battenfield, who lived on Social Security
payments from a mental disability, refused to stop when a U.S. Forest Service
officer tried to pull him over.
It
was a decision that cost him his life.
A
high-speed chase ensued, and Battenfield began weaving in and out of traffic as
an Arkansas State Police trooper picked up the pursuit, the trooper's dash cam
video shows.
Ordered
to get the truck stopped, the trooper deliberately bumped the truck at a speed
of 109 miles per hour, using what is known as a Precision Immobilization
Technique, or PIT.
What
happened next was predictable, experts say. The truck flipped and rolled, and
Battenfield was killed in the crash.
He
was one of at least 30 people who died since 2016 when police performed the PIT
maneuver to stop a fleeing vehicle, according to a year-long Washington Post
investigation featured Sunday night on "NBC Nightly News."
Combing
through news reports and public records, the Post also found hundreds of people
who had been injured when police used the PIT. But the actual number of deaths
and injuries is unknown, because there is no federal requirement that police
departments keep track.
Eighteen
of the deaths came after drivers were suspected of minor traffic violations,
such as speeding, the Post found. Ten killed were passengers and four were
bystanders.
Nearly
half of those who died were minorities: nine Black, four Hispanic and one Native
American.
When
the technique is used successfully, an officer in pursuit uses the cruiser to
push the fleeing car’s rear end sideways, sending it into a spin and ending the
pursuit, according to the Post.
Experts
consulted by the Post and NBC News say the PIT maneuver can be relatively safe
and predictable at speeds under 35 miles per hour, but grows increasingly
dangerous at higher speeds. Experts say it's also more dangerous when used
against vehicles with higher centers of gravity such as SUVs, trucks and
minivans, because they are more prone to flipping.
Maria
Asucena Carbijal Lopez died in a 2017 police pursuit in North Carolina.Courtesy
Brian Hochman
"If
used properly, a PIT is a good, safe maneuver," Geoff Alpert, a
criminology professor at the University of South Carolina, said. "And if
used improperly, at high speeds, in the wrong area, against the wrong vehicle,
it's deadly."
An
Arkansas State Police spokesman defended his agency's actions to local media
after the crash.
"PIT
has been used by the Arkansas State Police for no less than the past 18-20
years and continues to be used by state troopers, particularly if innocent
lives are being threatened, as was the case involving the Fort Smith
incident," spokesman Bill Sadler was quoted as saying at the time.
Sadler
did not respond to requests for comment Friday by NBC News.
Linda
Hamm, a close family friend who helped raise Justin Battenfield, wondered why
the police weren't able to stop him using less violent means — or why they
didn't just break off the pursuit and arrest him later.
A
temporary license plate on the new truck was in Battenfield's name, she said.
"I
don't believe it should have happened," she said. "They had plenty of
opportunity to stop him before he got back in town. ... I'm very hurt over it.
I just don't understand why they do that rate of speed."
The
PIT maneuver was developed for police decades ago in Fairfax County, Virginia,
police there say. Officers gave NBC News a demonstration on their track in
Chantilly, near Dulles International Airport outside Washington, D.C.
Lt.
Jay Jackson, who supervises the training, said Fairfax County police perform
the PIT about 13 times a year, and no one has been seriously hurt.
"It
all comes down to training," he said. "Here in Fairfax County we do
extensive training on the PIT maneuver. They have to do eight successful PITs
to even become certified."
The
county also has policies that prohibit high speed chases of minor offenders,
which means the PIT likely would not be used on someone who ran a red light,
Jackson said.
Some
departments, including New York State police, have banned the PIT, while
others, such as LAPD, forbid it at speeds over 35 miles an hour.
But
at least 30 large police agencies allow the technique at any speed, The
Washington Post found.
That
was the policy of the North Carolina State Police in 2017, when a group of
teenagers drove away from a state trooper trying to pull over their minivan.
The
trooper bumped the vehicle at at one hundred miles an hour. It flipped and
rolled and all four teens were thrown out
Two
girls, ages 15 and 16, were killed.
Jonathan
Thomas suffered a broken neck. The last thing he remembers before the crash is
holding his girlfriend, Maria Lopez, who died.
"There's
no justification in taking two lives and almost three," he said.
The
trooper was not charged, police said. North Carolina instituted a new policy
prohibiting the PIT over 55 miles per hour.
Ken
Dilanian is a correspondent covering intelligence and national security for the
NBC News Investigative Unit.
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