The police resorted to ramming tactics while in pursuit of a couple on a speeding motorcycle that tried to outrun the patrol car the night before Saturday. Driver Andre Rider described the police's conduct as dangerous on social media.
Offender accuses police of thoughtlessness
24th April 2017, 13:56
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The patrol car spotted the motorcycle headed toward Pirita road in Tallinn at 101 km/h on the night before Saturday. The police officers signaled the driver to stop which the latter ignored, instead speeding up down Pirita road toward Kloostrimetsa and Pärnamäe road.
The biker slowed down before the Narva rd. and Vana-Kuuli roundabout at which point the patrol car decided to force the vehicle off the road. The police car hit the motorcycle from behind causing it to fall on its right side injuring both riders who were taken to hospital.
Head of the patrol service of the city center police station Taavi Kirss said that forcing the motorcycle off the road while its speed was low was a carefully considered decision that helped avoid a more serious accident. “The police will intervene decisively when a vehicle is speeding at nearly 200 km/h on city streets while its driver ignores stop signals as the latter might be a danger to others. A high-speed accident would very probably have injured both the couple on the bike and whoever happened to be in their way.”
Driver Andre Rider posted on social media on Saturday evening that he regrets what happened. “I'm ashamed to look at my wife, whose life I risked, and others I may have placed in jeopardy,” Rider wrote.
That said, Rider believes the police handled the situation poorly. “Was it truly necessary to endanger the lives of two young people by ramming them? Was it a well thought-out maneuver? I would understand it had I been alone,” Rider wrote.
The young man pointed out that his motorcycle was doing 70 km/h when he was rammed. “Why is it necessary to wrestle people who have just been rammed off the road, who are hurt and completely harmless to the ground and clasp them in handcuffs?”
Rider said that he and his rider were diagnosed with fractures in the hospital.