Chase Deaths Were a Needless Tragedy

Our readers wrote letters throughout 1992, expressing their viewpoints on a variety of issues. Here are condensed versions of some of those letters to help us remember the events that mattered to Orange County readers this past year. We would like to thank the readers who took the time to share their views, and we look forward to hearing from them and others in 1992.

The chase and subsequent killing of five innocents (“5 Killed as Truck Fleeing Border Agents Crashes”) 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.

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