The Cause

People Often Ask Me: "Why do you do it?" "How do you do it, day after day?”

I believe they are actually asking: "Why does PursuitSAFETY need to exist?" And, for the more personal question, "How do you re-live Kristie’s death, day after day?”

PursuitSAFETY, a national nonprofit public safety organization, exists because every week innocent bystanders are senselessly killed, with thousands of others injured annually right here in the United States during police chases for nonviolent crimes.

On January 22, 2002, my family was doing what many families of teenagers do: We were traveling to our daughter Kristie's high school basketball game. In a split second, everything changed. Kristie, an honor student, community volunteer and a daughter who filled our home with joy, would not be playing ball that night. Instead, she was dying near a street corner where paramedics had placed her lifeless body but feverishly worked to save her precious life. We watched in horror, not knowing that our family had just stopped a non-policy police chase. We learned about our situation through the news media. In fact, we learned almost everything through the media.

Kristie died on the seventh day. Yet, within a few hours after the chase, the Chico police sent the teenage girl they had been chasing home with her mother. How do I know? I read about it from a newspaper article, just as the morning sun shined on my kitchen counter. You'll learn why they sent her home in one of my future posts.

The National Police Ethics Committee states that, “The primary responsibility of the police service and of the individual officer, is the protection of the people of the United States through the upholding of their laws....” In fact, we, the general public, expect the police to perform the job for which they were hired: to be the representatives of government responsible for public safety and social order. This is what we expect. This is what we believe. This is what we trust.

I believed in that trust and taught my Kristie to believe it too. When people understand the inherent risk of death and injury to innocent bystanders associated with vehicular police chases and non-emergency, first-responder calls, they quickly reconsider the validity of condoning these types of vehicular police pursuits. PursuitSAFETY, a national nonprofit organization, is the only one of its kind in the world. It provides a safe place for innocent victims and their families to turn to for the support they need.

My dreams for and made with Kristie were taken away. I do what I do because I want your dreams to come true. I want you to continue making memories with the people you love.

Two months before Kristie was killed, she had learned in health class how one could become an organ donor. She said to me, “Mom, if I were to die, I want to donate my organs. What good would they do me?” Kristie gave the gift of life to four other people. As executive director of PursuitSAFETY, I want to save lives too.

Please visit PursuitSAFETY.org.