Should Texas DPS update its high-speed pursuit policy?

“No one runs from the state police,” is unofficially the policy of the Texas DPS, according to several sources in local law enforcement who asked that their names not be used in this story for obvious reasons. They also don’t want to say that their own departments avoid high-speed pursuits unless it involves a felony or serious misdemeanor.

“No one wants to put the word out that we won’t engage in high-speed pursuits if it only involves two pounds of pot or five illegals, let’s say” said one. “No one is going to say that, but that’s what some police chiefs and sheriffs do, because if the high-speed pursuit ends in the death of an innocent person, what’s the point? Also, if you watch how a lot of these DPS and Border Patrol high-speed pursuits end, if they don’t cause injury or loss of life, they’re tearing up a lot of private property, like fences, gates, you name it.”

This past July, the 30th, Texas DPS engaged in a highspeed pursuit in Webb County (Laredo) because troopers suspected the SUV being chased was transporting undocumented immigrants to an unknown location. After it ran a red light and hit a curb, thanks to the DPS intentionally running it off the road, the vehicle caught fire. Thankfully, no one died, especially since the driver was only 14 years old. (Source: KRGV-TV.)

In La Joya, more than five years ago (March 2019), a high-speed pursuit by DPS troopers chasing an SUV attempting to smuggle illegal immigrants ended badly, to say the least: two women, ages 45 and 69, were killed after the smuggler lost control of the Ford Expedition and struck the vehicle in which they were traveling down road, minding their own business. In a flash, both were gone, leaving behind too many grieving family and friends.

The SUV driver, of course, fled the scene.

Between a few relatively short months three years ago (March through July of 2021), five innocent people were killed on Texas roadways, courtesy of a high-speed DPS pursuit that ended badly. Twenty-five other people, engaged in smuggling in one form or another, were also struck dead.

Last week, a DPS trooper decided to pursue a vehicle north of Alamo at high rates of speed. As is too often the case, the vehicle being chased crashed into another vehicle. Inside were four people — two adults and two children.

All four were transported to the hospital. No word yet as to their condition.

Again, this was another case of a driver successfully fleeing the scene.

The DPS hasn’t yet justified the reason for the high-speed pursuit.

Dark Window Tint: Serious Stuff
The DPS reported two years ago that in the nine months that Texas Highway Patrol troopers flooded the RGV as part of the governor’s Operation Lone Star, searching for human- and drug-smugglers on Texas soil, officers engaged in more than 1,000 vehicle pursuits in border communities. (Source: TexasTribune.org.)

During that same time frame last year, courtesy of Operation Lone Star, the number of citations handed out by troopers for expired stickers and window tinting that exceeded the legal limit increased by more than 1,000 percent.

The troopers will never say this, according to our law enforcement sources, but part of the reason they like high-speed pursuits is because it includes a huge shot of adrenaline with sirens blaring, barreling down the road at speeds in excess of 100 mph. All to capture, a lot of the time, four or five undocumented immigrants, crammed together in the bed of a truck or an SUV.

Up in Val Verde County two years ago (Del Rio), the DPS, still part of Operation Lone Star, wouldn’t give up trying to catch a human smuggler even though he was seen making several dangerous maneuvers to avoid tire spikes (deflation devices), while almost hitting a sheriff’s deputy.

Not only that, but the driver, a Florida resident, wasn’t afraid to drive fast, in excess of 100 mph, going so far as to cross the dividing lane and drive into oncoming traffic. (Source: Breitbart. com.)

With no one thankfully dead, the driver ended up facing state charges — human smuggling and evading arrest.

According to Texas DPS policy, the decision to engage in a high-speed pursuit is the individual trooper’s choice.

According to a brief written by Adame and Garza Texas trial attorneys:

“The numbers (of innocent people killed due to high-speed pursuits) are still chilling, however, with a high percentage of the victims of these crashes being young children, teenagers, and the elderly.

“For its part, law enforcement agencies nationwide and the Department of Justice have acknowledged that high-speed chases are extremely dangerous and present an extreme hazard to pedestrians and other motorists, and they have called on police agencies and officers to avoid them, but despite this, the problem persists. While police officers have a duty and a responsibility to protect innocent people from danger, quite often, their judgment goes by the wayside when the adrenaline is rushing through them during a high-speed chase.”

Exactly?

There was a terrible wreck in La Joya some years back. Maybe a decade has passed by now? Can’t remember the year. By the time the DPS trooper, who was doing the chasing, finally caught up with the suspect vehicle, there was debris lying all over Exp. 83 from where the smuggler had plowed into the innocents. Like so many of these drivers working for smugglers — human-or-drug contraband — they are young and inexperienced, driving vehicles seriously out of weight and balance at speeds in excess of 100 mph.

There was a photo of the trooper taken at the time, with his hand to his forehead, this look of sheer dread painted across his face as he reviewed the carnage, perhaps wishing that he had backed off when he saw that the driver was willing to risk everything to avoid capture.

In a study published late last year, the Human Rights Watch found that not only have more of these dangerous chases happened along border communities since the program (Operation Lone Star) was launched, but the number of chases ending in death or injury to drivers, passengers and innocent bystanders has also spiked. (Source: Dallas Morning News.)

“After reviewing Texas Department of Safety data obtained through records requests between March 2021 and July 2023, the nonprofit found at least 74 people were killed, including a 7-year-old girl, and another 189 were injured as a result of vehicle pursuits. That’s a 45 percent increase from before the border protection program began. (Source: DMN.)