Kristie’s Law
“Kristie’s Law” was a California state bill introduced by Senator Sam Aanestad in 2004 and 2005. The bill’s statewide policy came under fire by law enforcement unions and did not pass.
Sam Aanestad
In the news July 17, 2018, the LA Times published a story on California’s top court to decide what officers must do to escape liability in pursuit crashes. The article, no longer online, mentioned the Prianos’ efforts with the state legislature and the crash that killed Kristie. Candy Priano’s primary goal is preventing the tragedy of pursuit from happening to others, especially innocent bystanders. Here’s a Metropolitan News-Enterprise article about the state Supreme Court chase policy for agency immunity.
Kristie’s Law was introduced to the California Senate in 2003 as a spot bill. The bill’s author, state Senator Sam Aanestad, R-Grass Valley, held senate hearings on the measure in 2004 and 2005. He carried the bill for one reason: to save lives.
Aanestad testified his legislation would cut the numbers of pursuits and deaths. It would allow police statewide to only chase fleeing suspects they believed had committed or were about to commit violent felonies.
When the bill did not pass in 2005, the senator spoke to his fellow senators: “I compared efforts to restrict police pursuits to Florence Nightingale’s campaign in the 1800s to convince doctors they must wash their hands before doing surgery. She was laughed at, but she persisted. […] I hope someday you’ll listen.”
In line with the urging of California’s Fourth Appellate Court on November 26, 2002, Kristie’s Law would have corrected California’s immunity shield for law enforcement that grants immunity even when the pursuit policy is not followed. It also advocated the need for a statewide pursuit policy that would have limited vehicular police pursuits to violent crimes when there is no other way to apprehend the suspect(s). is the author of Kristie’s Law.
California has one specific area of law that is unique among the 50 states. California Vehicle Code Section 17004.7 provides immunity to law enforcement for injury to and death of innocent bystanders even when officers do not follow the vehicular pursuit policy their agency has actually adopted. There is no accountability to innocent victims and the families left behind.
In 2007, a law-enforcement backed bill revised Vehicle Code Section 17004.7. The code goes on and on, but it does not require officers to follow their pursuit policy. Read carefully, there’s even an escape clause regarding the requirement for officers to read their pursuit policy. Vehicle Code 17004.7 (b) (2) reads as follows: “The failure of an individual officer to sign a certification shall not be used to impose liability on an individual officer or a public entity.”
Read the Vehicle Code Section 17004.7 as it was from 1988 to 2006 law.
PursuitSAFETY’s spokesperson
Glenn Morshower shares a personal message
“It has everything to do with risk versus reward. In many cases, where the suspect poses no immediate danger to the public, it’s the chase itself that causes the threat. This is not an anti-police campaign,” said Glenn Morshower. “I am a huge supporter of what it is police do. I just believe policy and procedure are there for a reason and need to be followed.”
Keeping Your Family Safe
Candy Priano states: “The hardest part is watching the slow progress. For more than 100 years, before Ford’s first Model T rolled off the assembly line, police pursuit and response call crashes have killed innocent bystanders and police officers. Department leaders need to adopt well-defined, life-saving policies and require their officers to follow these policies. Too often leaders place life-saving pursuit policies on a shelf where they gather dust.”
Kristie’s Law
Kristie’s Law directly and pro-actively addressed safety standards to minimize the risk injuries and deaths related to vehicular police pursuits for the public and peace officers. It would have created standards to ensure police pursuits are conducted in a response to an immediate threat to life or a violent crime. Another life-saving necessity was to require officers to follow their own agency’s pursuit policy.
Worldwide, advocates for Kristie’s Law believe in law and order. People who break the law, no matter what the crime, need to be punished to the fullest extent of the law. Advocates believe the penalty for fleeing and eluding should be mandatory prison time.
Not So Black and White
by Robert Bastian Jr.
The Daily Journal
Perspectives: Law Enforcement
Underneath that rigid view of right and wrong is an implicit balancing test diminishing the value of the persons drawing the negative lottery ticket. That human roadblock [innocent bystander] is an abstract entity until the number is drawn. Thereafter, it is Kristie Priano.
California has one specific area of law which is shamefully unique among the fifty states. California Vehicle Code Section 17004.7 provides near absolute immunity to law enforcement for injury to innocent bystanders caused by poorly executed police vehicle chases. All other states provide for at least some form of liability. Only California makes redress in court effectively impossible.
Read more on California’s one specific area of law that definitely is Not So Black and White.