Louisiana teens’ deaths put spotlight on police chases

NEW ORLEANS — It was a tragically high price to pay for catching a suspected car thief: two innocent teens dead and a police officer jailed for a crash that resulted from the pursuit.

Maggie Dunn, 17, and Caroline Gill, 16, who were cheerleaders for their high school in the southern Louisiana town of Brusly, died in the collision Saturday. They’re the latest fatalities among hundreds every year attributed to accidents involving police pursuits.

Many police departments have tightened their policies on such pursuits in recent years.

National Highway Transportation Safety data show that 455 deaths were tied to police pursuits in 2020.

The Louisiana case is unusual in that the local prosecutor says the officer, 42-year-old David Cauthron, acted so recklessly that he should face charges and is preparing to ask a grand jury to consider bringing them.Authorities say Cauthron joined a chase in rural West Baton Rouge Parish that started when police pursued a man suspected of stealing his father’s car.

Cauthron, authorities said, drove his police car through an intersection in Brusly, ignoring a red light and colliding with a car that held the two girls and Dunn’s 20-year-old brother, Liam, who was critically injured.

“In my experience, I have not seen a police officer charged criminally in a police pursuit case,” said Chicago civil rights attorney Andrew Stroth, who has handled numerous lawsuitsbut has no ties to the Louisiana collision.

Cauthron remained jailed Thursday, according to online records. Neither the jail nor the parish court clerk’s office listed an attorney for him. Parish District Attorney Tony Clayton said in a news release that he intends to ask the grand jury to consider charging Cauthron. Possible charges include negligent homicide and negligent injury. Clayton stressed that the investigation will be thorough, but made clear that he believes the hot pursuit of suspect Tyquel Zanders, 24, was a deadly mistake.

“Sirens and police vehicles do not give an officer the authority to cut through a red light,” Clayton wrote, adding that evidence so far indicates Cauthron was “grossly negligent.”

Clayton didn’t limit his criticism to Cauthron. He previously publicly questioned whether police in Baton Rouge should have pursued Sanders, who was arrested, uninjured, following a chase that involved multiple law enforcement agencies.