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A Mississippi police officer has been suspended without pay after a chase that led to 3 deaths

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A Mississippi police officer has been suspended without pay after a chase that led to 3 deaths
A north Mississippi police officer whose pursuit ended in a crash that killed three people has been suspended from duty without pay.

BYHALIA, Miss. (AP) — A north Mississippi police officer whose pursuit ended in a crash that killed three people has been suspended from duty without pay.

Byhalia aldermen voted on Wednesday to suspend William Langham, WHBQ-TV reported, after he chased an SUV beyond the city limits on Jan. 4. The fleeing SUV crashed into a pickup truck. Killed were 30-year-old SUV driver Jaqua Bluiett, 43-year-old pickup truck driver Angela Davis, and 63-year-old pickup truck passenger Michael Crutcher. A second passenger in the truck was injured.

Langham denies wrongdoing. He’ll remain suspended at least until the Marshall County Sheriff’s Office completes its investigation.

“We presented our evidence that the officer did not engage in anything illegal, anything untoward or anything in violation of policy,” attorney Michael Carr told WREG-TV. “We stand behind what he did and we look forward to clearing his name.”

No one has said what led Langham to start chasing the SUV. The chase ended more than 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) outside the Byhalia city limits.

Taderio Woods, who lives at the crash site, told WMC-TV that he rushed outside when he heard a boom.

“When I came back, I saw that the truck was on fire. … We instantly went to go get the water hose and try and put the fire out, and we could hear people in the car,” Woods said.

Law enforcement agencies have long faced questions about whether the danger of some pursuits outweighs the value of the resulting arrests. Michael Caradine, a cousin of Crutcher, questioned why the officer would chase someone at high speed on a narrow country road.

“They should not have been chasing that man, this is a side street, man. It’s nothing but hills,” Caradine told WMC-TV. “They chased this guy running 100 miles an hour? Come on, man.”

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The Associated Press is an independent global news organization dedicated to factual reporting. Founded in 1846, AP today remains the most trusted source of fast, accurate, unbiased news in all formats and the essential provider of the technology and services vital to the news business. The Trucker Media Group is subscriber of The Associated Press has been granted the license to use this content on TheTrucker.com and The Trucker newspaper in accordance with its Content License Agreement with The Associated Press.
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5 Comments

On police chases they can get there tag number and get them another way instead of doing 100 miles per hour and causing death or injury to innocent bystanders. Especially when it’s as something minor your pulling them over for.

Why is it always law enforcement who gets blamed for the criminal refusing to stop? Would law enforcement prove the driver with only a tag number? Does the officer know the vehicle has not just been stolen? What about evidence in the vehicle or the criminal themselves? Will they stop risking lives just because a police car is not behind them? What will warn people some idiot is speeding toward them with not lights and sirens around? What about the car jacking victim, kidnapped victim etc in the car. Most of the thousands of chases do not end up killing innocent people. It 100% the criminals choices that end up in the crash. Stop = no crash.

Failure to stop for law enforcement should be reason enough to pursue. They must have something to hide or either no respect for the law. Come on man.

That officer should be punished he should have backed off after speeds reached above speed limits and especially if the roads were not safe

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