More than 10,000 people have been injured – 321 of them fatally – in California over the past 10 years as a result of high-speed police chases, says NBCLosAngeles.com. The deaths and injuries have continued apace in the state even after a law was enacted to try to reduce the number of chases and make them less dangerous. In fact, the data show that individual chases have become more deadly since the law went into effect in 2006.
Last year alone, pursuits culminated in crashes that caused 927 injuries and 33 deaths, among them one police officer and eight people who were either passengers or bystanders, according to data from the California Highway Patrol. In the most recent case, a grisly collision in Los Angeles on Saturday killed two women and injured three other people at a taco truck in Boyle Heights. The driver, Elba Jimenez, will be charged with two counts of murder, felony drunk driving and failing to yield to law enforcement.