More Innocent Victims in the Pursuit of Justice

Some friends tend to dress alike, talk alike, act alike, even think alike. Christopher Dechuff and Daniel Nardine went so far as to get matching tattoos.

The word “white” goes down one arm, police say, “power” down the other. Other tattoos include swastikas, pentagrams, lightning bolts--all advertisements for one of those strange friendships built on hatred.

This, plus their haircuts, is why Los Angeles police didn’t hesitate to describe Dechuff and Nardine, both 19, as “skinhead” white supremacists after they were arrested Tuesday night following a police pursuit that ended in a fiery crash that killed 44-year-old Linda Wageman of Granada Hills. Dechuff, as the driver of the weaving, stolen van police say plowed into the van carrying Wageman and her 25-year-old daughter, Rebecca, is expected to face murder charges.

Dechuff is recovering from brain surgery, and Nardine suffered less severe injuries. Yet while they face criminal charges, the public’s attention is also focused on the actions of police. The collision at Sepulveda Boulevard and Lassen Street renews a familiar debate about whether police pursuits are really worth the risk.

And this too seems familiar: Why do the bad guys usually survive while the innocents die?

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That is how it feels, at least. Definitive data are difficult to come by, but consider the toll of an extraordinary series of eight unrelated police pursuits in Southern California that ended in deaths during a two-week period in November 1992.

Ten people were killed--all but two of them innocent people caught in the paths of the speeding suspects. The previous summer, a sadly memorable high-speed pursuit by U.S. Border Patrol agents ended with the suspect’s vehicle killing six people standing outside a Temecula high school.

Now, of course, most police pursuits end the way they’re supposed to--with arrests. But it’s also worth remembering that for every fatality, there are many pursuits that end in injuries.

That spate of eight deadly pursuits five years ago may represent a skewed sample. Acting Capt. Joe Rizzo of the Valley Traffic Division says that, in his nine years specializing in traffic enforcement, suspects have been as likely to die as innocent parties in chases. Every crash, Rizzo pointed out, is unique; the merest fraction of a second is often the difference between a fatality and no injury at all. On the other hand, Det. Bob Huber, Valley traffic’s chief of detectives, allowed that the laws of physics may generally work for the bad guys because they are moving at a greater speed. All else being equal, the smasher incurs less damage than the smashee.

The greater risk to innocent parties--as opposed to the considered risks by suspects and police--would seem all the more reason for police to emphasize caution. And while LAPD officials say that officers violated no policies in the Mission Hills incident, the death of Linda Wageman should also remind San Fernando Valley residents that they have even more reason to be concerned about these circumstances than residents in other parts of Greater Los Angeles.

With its grid of wide, straight boulevards, with major intersections spaced far apart, Huber notes, the Valley is virtually designed for speeding. On L.A.’s meaner streets, people are more likely to die by gunshot. In the Valley, traffic is more deadly.

The good news is that traffic fatalities have come down in recent years. In 1994, LAPD officers handled 103 fatalities in the Valley, and 109 in 1995. Those figures have fallen to 77 in 1996 and 63 this year, as of Friday.

Huber attributes the improvement to stronger laws that allow police to impound vehicles and more aggressive enforcement of traffic violations. Motorcycle officers were taken off collision investigation duty and placed on traffic enforcement. Last year, he said, more than 102,000 traffic citations were written in the Valley--the most ever by an LAPD division.

But aggressive policing may have inadvertently led to Linda Wageman’s death.

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A couple of years ago, Huber explained, those motorcycle officers might have been busy investigating a collision rather than be involved in a task force targeting drunk drivers. They spotted the white van moving erratically, at a suspiciously slow speed. When they learned the van had been reported as a stolen vehicle, they tried to pull it over. Then it ran a red light at Van Nuys and Arleta--and the chase was on.

Huber said the two officers were 300 yards behind the fleeing van when the collision occurred. The pursuing officers, Doug Gerst and Ron Stringer, were injured themselves helping Rebecca Wageman from the burning car and trying unsuccessfully to rescue her mother. This is the stuff of heroism. Yet these circumstances are also the stuff of second-guessing.

Yes, every crash is different, as are the moral equations. No, there is no cosmic justice on the streets.

An innocent woman dies and another is injured.

The bad guys don’t win.

But neither do the good guys.

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Scott Harris’ column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Readers may write to him at The Times’ Valley Edition, 20000 Prairie St. , Chatsworth, CA 91311, or via e-mail at scott.harris@latimes.com Please include a phone number.