Feb. 28, 2023 “(Offenders) know they’re just going to get an appearance ticket, so they’ll take the risk,” said Niagara County Sheriff Michael Filicetti on the increase in dangerous pursuits.
By Rick Pfeiffer Source Niagara Gazette, Niagara Falls, N.Y. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
The Niagara County Sheriff’s deputy’s dashboard cam shows the tail lights of a vehicle speeding away down Porter Road, through a parking lot and then down Niagara Falls Boulevard at speeds reaching over 100 mph.
As the fleeing driver turns left on Military Road and continues onto Buffalo Avenue, the deputy asks for another law enforcement agency to deploy road spikes. Dispatchers tell him Falls Police don’t have any spikes.
The chase began at around 2 a.m. Monday morning when the deputy attempted to stop the car, driven by Kevin M. King Jr., 30, of the Falls, for what were described as “several vehicle and traffic law infractions” at Porter-Packard and Military Roads.
As the chase continued, King begins to weave his way up and down residential streets in the LaSalle neighborhood. Just over 5 1/2 minutes into the chase, it comes to an end when King loses control of his vehicle and it slams into an apartment building at Cayuga Drive and Mang Avenue.
King and a passenger run from the vehicle, but the deputy gives chase on foot and is able to catch the driver and take him into custody. Perhaps remarkably, no one was hurt in the pursuit — but the apartment building did sustain structural damage.
Deputies reported the outside wall, where the vehicle struck the building, was pushed into a bedroom of an apartment in the building. A male occupant, sleeping in the bedroom, was uninjured.
Sheriff Michael Filicetti says dangerous chases like this one, which once were rare, are now becoming a regular occurrence.
“Running from law enforcement gives you the opportunity to dispose of things you might have in your vehicle,” the sheriff said. “We didn’t catch the passenger. Maybe he had warrants, maybe he had drugs, maybe he had weapons.”
Deputies said King told them he fled from the attempted traffic stop because he didn’t have a valid driver’s license.
He now faces criminal charges of third-degree unlawful fleeing a police officer in a motor vehicle, second-degree reckless endangerment, fourth-degree criminal mischief, second-degree obstructing governmental administration and resisting arrest. Deputies also issued King 11 traffic tickets.
“Based on the driving you see (on the dashboard cam video), it’s just a total disregard the safety of the public and a disregard for the safety of the law enforcement officers attempting to make the traffic stop,” Filicetti said. “And why not give it a run, because you know you won’t see the inside of a jail cell, even briefly.”
Filicetti said his agency isn’t the only one locally that is experiencing a spike in vehicle pursuits and he firmly believes the inability to jail, even briefly, those who choose to run from law enforcement, stems directly from the inability to impose bail after their arrests.
“(Offenders) know they’re just going to get an appearance ticket, so they’ll take the risk,” Filicetti said. “These (criminal justice) reforms need to be changed. I’m not saying repeal them, but let’s take another look at them and fix them. It’s strictly a matter of public safety.”