Inquest jury recommends police chase speed limit
Last Updated: Friday, September 7, 2007 | 11:01 AM AT
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The jury in a New Brunswick coroner's inquest says the province needs to put a speed limit on police chases.
The recommendation for a speed limit to be written into the province's hazardous pursuit policy comes from the inquest into the death of 19-year-old Jeremie Fournier of Bathurst.
Fournier was killed in September 2004 after his motorcycle went off Highway 11 near Belledune about the same time a motorcycle engaged police in a high-speed chase in the same area.
The deadly crash has never been directly linked with the high-speed chase, which reached speeds of 200 km/h. Fournier's body was found the morning after the chase and his motorcycle was blue, while police believed they were chasing one painted red and white.
But the inquest jury moved the time of death to 9:30 p.m. on Sept. 14, the same time the police chase ended when the pursuers lost track of the bike.
"It might seem maybe not significant to other people but to us, as we've said, we've all along related both from the 14th evening to the 15th," said Helene Fournier, Jeremie Fournier's mother. "Today I feel that it's there, it's in writing, it's public. That's why I'm making so much of it today."
Fournier's father, Yvon, was hoping the jury would call for less aggressive tactics when police chase motorbikes.
"Like I say, in a car, you've got four wheels, you've got a seat, you've got an airbag. On a motorcycle you've got none of this, so maybe not so far."
The jury's recommendations also include a call for police forces working in the same area to use using the same radio frequencies. Bathurst police and RCMP officers were unable to communicate with one another directly during the chase.
The provincial chief coroner will take the recommendations to the provincial government and ask for responses from the appropriate departments.
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