Man Leads Police on High-Speed Chase after Traffic Stop
A Tennessee man was recently arrested for the tenth time for driving on a revoked license. Police pulled the man over after seeing him cross the center line last Friday. During the traffic stop, the man decided that if he just drove away really fast he might not get a ticket. A high-speed chase ensued, leading police across two counties and reaching speeds of up to 100 miles per hour. The man eventually pulled over and surrendered to police. The charges against him include driving with a revoked license.
Besides the obvious fact that high-speed chases are often on television precisely because they never seem to work out the way the offender-on-the-run intends, instigating such chases is not advisable because it can lead to the offender being held responsible for an extraordinary amount of damages after the chase has run its course.
A person engaging in such activity will almost certainly be sued for every injury they cause and every piece of property they destroy, which can add up pretty quickly when a driver is traveling 100 miles per hour down the interstate with several police cars in pursuit. One source of liability for such a driver will be compensatory damages, as he or she will definitely be responsible for actual damages sustained as a result of his or her conduct. However, the biggest source of liability in this situation may come in the form of punitive damages.
Punitive damages can be awarded in Tennessee personal injury claims when the defendant acted intentionally, fraudulently, recklessly, or maliciously in causing the accident leading to the personal injury suit. Leading the authorities on a high-speed pursuit unquestionably qualifies as intentional and reckless activity unless the driver would like to argue that the gas pedal got stuck, but that is not a defense worth putting a lot of faith in.
These damages are not limited to the amount of actual damages caused in the same manner as compensatory damages, so punitive damage awards can be substantial. Such conduct should thus be avoided unless you want to be featured on America’s Craziest Criminals 18 or some derivative thereof, spend a significant amount of time in confinement (which means you probably would not even get to see yourself on television), and have to pay a six-figure punitive damage award.
