Border Chases: Legacy of Old West Is Alive

The chase and subsequent killing of five innocents (“5 Killed as Truck Fleeing Border Agents Crashes,” June 3) again highlight the abandonment of all reason in pursuit of assumed felons.

This tragedy follows from a macho policy that rewards the pursuing officers with a rush of adrenaline and undoubtedly a great story to tell over coffee and doughnuts. And that is the only reward.

I suggest that the Border Patrol authorities, Sheriff Brad Gates and the chiefs of police throughout Orange County relate to the victims’ families, as well as to the taxpayer for the cost of vehicle and other property damage resulting from high-speed chases over the last five or so years.

Detail how many have been injured or placed at risk, then tell us the other side of the equation--the number of serious and/or dangerous felons captured as a result of their hell-for-leather policy.

I doubt even one dangerous criminal has been pursued at high speed and caught. Meanwhile, the carnage continues. The legacy of the Old West kept alive around a coffee table in a doughnut shop.

The families, left to mourn their dead, the fabric of their lives ripped and sundered by heedless stupidity and negligent leadership, may in time come to wonder how any civilized society can stand by and watch itself exposed to such peril by those it pays to protect.

DON COULSON, Orange