To wonder why all these teenagers are being killed in police car chases?

[malificent7]

Are they only being chased if they are driving dangerously? First there was Cardiff now the kid on the bike. I know kids do silly things with cars but aibu to think the police don't come off well with this?

Well it's unlikely anyone is going to come out and public ally say he wasn't, especially after his death.
And having no previous convictions doesn't always mean much - as is often said in MN regards other crimes, it may just mean he's never been caught before.

I don't know. I didn't know the child or family.

Maybe he was an innocent sweet child who decided to make the wrong choice in the day and race away from the police when asked to stop.

It's, of course, tragic, that a young boy has died.

Its irresponsible for the Police to chase people on bicycles, the punishment for stealing a bike or riding an illegal e-bike is not death.

And if that teen then loses control, or drives too fast, and hits your toddler, your mum, you - and kills them. Do you still think the police should have not tried to stop them?

Also, are people expecting that the police should refrain from chasing if the rider is under a certain age? Some 15yo boys are as tall as a grown man; if they are riding at speed, it's going to be very hard to judge the age of someone hunched over a two wheeled vehicle.

I know kids do silly things with cars

"Silly things with cars"??? They could kill others. What if instead of an ambulance, they'd hit a child? I hope you don't have children whose dangerous behaviour you dismiss as "silly things".

aibu to think the police don't come off well with this?

Extremely unreasonable. Out of interest, what level of illegal and dangerous driving do you think the police should ignore?

These children are driving very expensive bikes, £3000+, without helmets and dangerously. The two boys who died must have been going at a fast speed to both die. It is sad, but inevitable. It was pure luck that they did not kill any pedestrians, which would have made it an even bigger tragedy. Parents allowing their children to drive these vehicles, with no helmets, lose the moral high ground when they are out speeding around residential streets. They also tried to justify the use of the bike by claiming it was an early birthday present - really? If that is true, why does it make a difference? Was it merely an attempt to justify the thousands of pounds spent on the bike. They paid a high price for indulging one of the boys. The police did nothing wrong.

Think op wanted a police hating thread.....but hasn't got one!!

E bike speeds are supposed to be capped at 15mph. A lot of the things there kids are riding are more like electric motorbikes - top speeds of 30/40/50 mph. Twattish parents buy these for their teens then let them tear round the neighbourhood, no helmets, then get upset if the police intervene.

If these kids are doing nothing wrong then there is no need for them to run from the police, they can just stop.

This. If the police has caught them and they’d stopped they wouldn’t have died.

Teach kids to follow the law, or at least surrender to the police when they don’t and they’ll be a whole lot safer.

Very often these kids are county line mules and are escaping. No one innocent speeds away when police are chasing them on blue lights. It's a tragedy and I can assure you the police aren't taking any joy out of this. I'm so sick of police being vilified, we'll soon have none left.

He had no other convictions - how would he have learnt the police are to be feared?

I have no other convictions and would stop IMMEDIATELY if requested by police, even if I knew I was speeding/uninsured/drunk.

I’d have more sympathy in the US where police are armed and there are race issues… but here?! Just stop and surrender the bike.

This. People who say kids do silly things (insert extremely dangerous illegal activity) don't really realise these 'kids' very shortly turn into adults and the same people blame schools for failing to bring up respected members of society. I'm sick and tired of teenagers being infantilised and everyone has to just sit by and watch as they burn everything in their path and laugh.

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. I fully support the police on this.

I fully support the police too!

There was a 15 year old drug dealer stabbed to death near here a few years ago. Whilst also breaking covid lockdown rules so he could deal. Every tribute painted him as pretty much a saint. It’s utterly tragic and avoidable if he hadn’t been involved in drugs.

SilverOrchid

I was quoting another poster . The first few lines are of the other poster - the quote bold hasn't worked.

As per my further comments, and previous post, I agree with you. I would also stop.

More powerful bikes, cars, scooters readily available these days. Kids perhaps only used to bimbling round on them, and then when they get chased they have to take them faster. Not experienced at handling them at speed while driving in a panic, and they crash.

Pathetic post OP blaming the police. Wake up and smell the coffee, most drug runners and small time theirs now zip around on e scooters.

The police and those involved know exactly what's going on, there mobile easy to out run an officer on foot extremely hard to follow in a car and fast enough to zip around and dive down small places.

Or do you think all these teens are all angles like Thier friends and parents claim when some thing happens to them after riding like idiots and involved in numerous criminality

Because, like the young man who drove himself through a hedge, ditch, sleeping cow and 200m of field after overtaking me on a blind bend last week, they have absolutely zero understanding of risk.

It is often dismissed as being a killjoy but when kids learn their driving mindset on super mario kart etc, didn't have the same childhood of hard knocks we old gimmers had their idea of risk assessment, personal injury, pain factor etc is often lacking.

Cow was killed. Hedge an expensive thing to mend. Car a write off. Young man is extremely lucky to be alive with 2 broken bones and not an inch of him unbruised. He told his mum he had no idea pain could feel like that.

Bluntly, we need kids to hurt themselves when young. That's how we learn to risk assess. Being back those dangerous playground roundabouts, pedal cars, skipping ropes etc. Teach kids some self preservation skills.

I know... I'm out of touch, have no idea etc etc. But then again...

You're 100% right in general, but more often than not the kids running away from police on scooters are drug mules used by county lines criminals.

This.

the decision to pursue is always weighed against public safety.

usually the risk to the public from the idiot driving around at high speeds on a stolen or illegal vehicle is higher than the risk to that idiot from a police pursuit.

if they don’t pursue and the idiot takes an entire family returning from the shop out, or kills a mum and baby in a pram on a zebra crossing….that’s why. Better to take out the idiot than let them take out innocent people.

Natural selection? Stupid people doing
stupid things are always going to get hurt / killed.

No relation to Jacob Cookson then, OP and "friends"? Not a person of interest to the police? Just a sweet lad with no previous convictions? Just randomly followed by the police who had nothing better to do? My arse.
https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/staggering-drugs-empire-7000-week-22908128

@LarkLane well, obviously that's Housing's fault isn't it for not giving the poor lamb his own property!

Close to where I live two 16 year-olds who considered themselves budding gangsters were stabbed to death. Their killer was acquitted of murder and manslaughter, only being jailed for possession of a knife.
In the same area, a two-hour vandalism spree damaged/wrote-off more than 30 cars - the police were unable to do anything due to insufficient evidence, despite arresting two likely culprits.
If parents care about their children, they should know their whereabouts and care about who they are associating with and what they get up to.
I worry that if the police continue effectively decriminalising offences (https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/police-fail-to-solve-burglary-in-half-of-neighbourhoods-in-last-three-years/) then vigilantes or professional leg-breakers will meet the unmet demand.

This is unfortunately going on all over the UK. I often see youngsters, some not so young riding electric bikes or quad bikes at speed, often through the middle of moving traffic pulling wheelies as they go.
Only last week I was in the park with my toddler grandchild when a man at least in his 30s came teararsing past us at speed on an electric bike. Luckily I spotted him in my eyeline, he had absolutely no intention of showing down, could have been much worse. I have no sympathy with these "lovely kind hearted wouldn't hurt a fly youngsters", I just view it as one more piece of shit off the roads