US Highway 2 at 0230: Deciding to End a Pursuit

Policy first. The triggering offense is speeding and an equipment violation, plus fleeing. Fleeing is a crime under NDCC 39-10-71, but the policy requires a violent felony or imminent danger, and neither exists on these facts: no warrants, valid license, no report of a crime beyond the flight itself. Supervisor approval has not been given. Two of three policy conditions fail before you reach the risk analysis.

Statute. NDCC 39-10-26 gives an emergency vehicle privileges such as speed and signal compliance, but conditioned on due regard for the safety of others. The privilege is not an immunity, and the standard is ordinary care, not "I had my lights on."

Risk. 95 mph at night on a two-lane highway, a grain truck now in the equation, no air support, and a driver whose identity you already know. The marginal benefit of continuing is catching a man tonight; the marginal cost is a head-on crash that kills him, you, or a farm family.

Decision: terminate. Announce the termination, slow down, and kill the lights. Continuing would be defensible only if the driver were suspected of something that justified the risk to the public, and he is not.

Immediately:

• Broadcast the termination with time, location, direction of travel, and vehicle description.
• Ask dispatch to advise the trooper of the last known location and direction, and to note the vehicle for a follow-up.
• Reduce speed gradually; do not continue at 90 while "not pursuing." A terminated pursuit that continues at speed is still a pursuit in a report and in a courtroom.

Next:

• If policy permits, drive at normal speed toward the registered address and check for the vehicle parked there. Do not arrive alone at 0300 without a plan; request the trooper or a second unit to meet you.
• If the vehicle is there, note the time, the engine temperature if you can lawfully observe it, and the driver's condition if he contacts you. A consensual knock-and-talk at 0300 is not consensual in practice; consider waiting until morning or seeking a warrant.
• Start the paperwork while it is fresh: speeds, distances, radio traffic, the grain truck's position, the stop-sign violation.

Documentation:

• The specific policy language you applied and the facts that failed each condition.
• The speeds and their duration, and the point at which you decided to terminate.
• The radio transmission time and who acknowledged.
• What you did after termination, minute by minute.

The termination is a decision that will be reviewed, possibly by a family member's lawyer if the truck crashes a mile later. The report has to show that the decision was made for stated reasons at a stated time, not that the pursuit "ended."

What would change the analysis:

• Information that the driver is suspected of a violent felony, a kidnapping, or an assault with a weapon.
• A confirmed report that the driver is impaired to the point of endangering others and is in a populated area.
• Daylight, dry roads, light traffic, air support overhead, supervisor approval on the radio, and a plan for the termination point.

None of these exist here; the analysis should be redone if any of them arrives, not before.

Before stop sticks:

• Supervisor approval and a designated, trained deploying officer.
• A location with long sight distance, no curve or crest, and an escape route for the deploying officer.
• Warning to other traffic, and coordination so the deploying officer is not standing in the path of the pursuing units.
• An honest risk assessment: at 95 mph, a deflated tire can produce a rollover that kills the driver. The seriousness of the offense must justify that risk, and here it does not.

The same logic applies to any roadblock; it is a seizure with a foreseeable crash outcome, and it requires both legal justification and a tactical plan that a supervisor will put in writing afterward.