Three families in Houston are suing the city over deadly police chases that occurred in Black neighborhoods, according to ABC13 News.
The civil lawsuit contends that the Houston Police Department had a pattern of pursuing Black motorists in Black neighborhoods, thereby putting the lives of civilians in Black communities at risk. Mike Doyle, the attorney for all three families, said he has compiled data from the Houston Police Department showing a pattern where deadly chases involving non-violent suspects resulted in the deaths of innocent bystanders.
The families suing the City of Houston
were involved in three different incidents where innocent drivers or bystanders were killed as a result of police chases. Doyle plans to prove that the Houston Police Department’s practices violate the constitution.“As high-speed chases have increased in the last decade, HPD continues to train, supervise, and discipline its officers consistent with a pattern of approving racially motivated, dangerous high-speed pursuits,” said Doyle in a press release. “By example, as part of its training to evaluate when to initiate a high-speed chase, HPD teaches its officers to evaluate the ‘social image’ of the chase, weigh ‘urban factors,’ and evaluate this with their ‘stresses, attitudes, emotions, prejudices, [and] bias.'”
“For these families, they’re never getting their loved one back.”
“What this includes, and really any civil rights case includes, is a hope that decision-makers don’t just see this going on and bless it and let it keep going on, but actually take steps to stop the conduct and behavior. For these families, that’s a huge part of it.”
“Innocent citizens are getting killed and injured again and again, because there’s police chases that shouldn’t be happening that keep happening, and they’re continuously approved instead of stopped,” he said.