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| NEWS > 26 February 2007 |
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RISE IN BRIBERY TESTS INTEGRIT
EL PASO — Bribery of federal and local officials by Mexican smugglers is rising sharply, and with it the fear that a culture of corruption is taking hold along the 2,000-mile border from Brownsville, Texas, to San Diego.
At least 200 public employees have been charged with helping to move narcotics or illegal immigrants across the U.S.-Mexican border since 2004, at least double the illicit activity documented in prior years, a Times examination of public records has found. Thousands more are under investigation.
Criminal charges have been brought against Border Patrol age... Read more
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Los Angeles Times - CA,USA
26 February 2007
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Court ponders police chase lia
Can a police officer be sued for hitting into a fleeing car during a high-speed chase and causing an accident that leaves the driver badly injured or dead?
The Supreme Court took up that question today in a case from rural Georgia, and the likely answer appeared to be "no."
The case has drawn wide attention because it could set national rules to limit police chases. More than 300 people per year are killed in police chases. Most of the victims are the motorists who tried to flee the police, but a substantial number are innocent bystanders. Each year, several police officers die in such chases.
But during the oral arguments today, most of the justices said they were not inclined to restrict the police from using force when they are pursuing a dangerous speeder.
The fleeing motorist "is creating a grave danger" to others on the highway, said Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr.
"We are talking about 90 miles per hour on a two-lane road," said Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., referring to the case before the court.
Six years ago, 19-year-old Victor Harris was paralyzed after losing control of his speeding Cadillac in Coweta County, Ga. He had been clocked going 73 mph on a highway where the speed limit was 55.
When a police officer flashed his blue light, Harris sped away. He was pursued through the parking lot of a small shopping center, where he collided with a police car.
Still undeterred, Harris raced down a dark and winding two-lane road, sped through red lights and swerved back and forth across the lanes to avoid other cars.
"Go ahead and take him out," a police supervisor radioed to Deputy Timothy Scott. Unable to stop Harris safely, Scott rammed into the rear bumper of the Cadillac, causing it to spin. The car careened over an embankment and the accident left Harris a quadriplegic.
That was the "scariest chase I ever saw since 'The French Connection,' " said Justice Antonin Scalia, referring to a police videotape of the chase that was supplied to the court. "It was frightening ... cars coming in the opposite direction, at night, on a two-lane winding road," he said.
Several other justices said they, too, had watched the videotape and agreed with Scalia's description. Harris had "created a substantial risk of serious bodily harm to others. How would a jury find otherwise?" asked Justice David H. Souter.
In his client's defense, Harris' lawyers said the young man had been driving "under control" and used his turn signals when he changed lanes.
"He used the turning signal! That's like the strangler who observes the 'no smoking' sign," interjected Justice Anthony M. Kennedy.
Despite the scary scene captured on the police video, Harris won two preliminary victories in the lower courts. He had sued Scott, alleging that the ramming of his car by the deputy amounted to excessive force and therefore violated the 4th Amendment and its ban on "unreasonable searches and seizures."
Lawyers for the police expected this claim would be rejected. Instead, both a federal judge and the U.S. court of appeals in Atlanta said the suit should go before a jury.
More than 20 years ago, the high court had said an officer may not use "deadly force" to stop a fleeing suspect unless he poses a true risk to the public or the police. That ruling arose when a police officer, answering a burglary call, encountered a teenage boy in the backyard and shot him in the back of the head.
Last year, the appeals court in Atlanta said the same rule against the use of "deadly force" should apply in cases involving high-speed chases. If that rule were upheld by the Supreme Court, it could force the police to break off high-speed chases and to let fleeing motorists get away.
But most of the justices said today they leaned in favor of a ruling that says police may use reasonable force to stop a dangerously speeding vehicle.
It will be several months before the justices issue a ruling in the case of Harris vs. Scott.
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