Saying “she made me do it” doesn’t make it OK

The first time I chased a car into Kansas, they suddenly pulled over and turned the car off and stuck their hands out of the window before they had even driven a mile into Kansas. I remember being surprised and thinking the car pulling over and giving up was the best-case scenario in a pursuit. After contacting the driver, he told me that he didn’t keep running because he realized I was not stopping at the state line. He thought that if he could make it into Kansas, he would be okay.

This is a statement I have heard many times since then and find that people often think if they can get out of the state or far away, they will not have to deal with whatever legal problems they currently have in Missouri. People often run from their problems but the idea that distance will somehow make your charges go away is a bad belief to have. Yelling as loud as you can, “I’m in Kansas now!” will not help either. All you will accomplish is going to jail for a while until we extradite you back to Missouri.

People will often do anything to avoid the trouble they predict is coming because of their actions, but running only delays the result of those actions. The slowest pursuit I responded to was a drunk driver who was traveling at 8 miles per hour with the deputy following behind with lights and sirens. The deputy called out the speed and I had to ask him twice to make sure I heard him right.

The car was traveling through a populated area and in that situation, we must constantly re-assess, but at 8 miles per hour, I decided the pursuit could continue. We often hear the term “high speed pursuit,” well this was my first “slow speed pursuit.” When we got the car stopped, the driver asked us (through slurred speech) not to take him to jail. He still went to jail for DWI, but also added the charges of resisting arrest to his record.

Many people look at going to jail as the end of the road and therefore will do everything in their power to avoid it, even when they know they have warrants for their arrest. But as I have mentioned in the past, going to jail is not the end. Going to jail means you messed up, you have fallen and now you must get back up and make something better of your life. It also means you must take responsibility for your actions.

I pulled two people over once who had stolen property in their vehicle and when I informed them that they would be going to jail, the driver pointed at the passenger and said, “she made me do it, it’s not my fault.” Blaming the girlfriend for something they had both stolen did not help him get out of trouble. There is always an excuse, but at the end of the day, only you can be held responsible for your own actions.

Being addicted to alcohol is not an excuse for driving a vehicle that could kill someone. Being addicted to drugs is not an excuse to break into other people’s homes and take their property, and saying that someone else told you to do it does not shift the blame from you to them.

If you have a problem that is causing you to break the law, face what you have done and seek help for that problem. But until you are willing to do that, you will be found no matter how far, fast, or slow you decide run.