PEORIA, Ill. – When do police agencies chase a suspect, and when do they not?
Those are questions that have been asked a lot following Sunday’s fatal accident at U.S. 150 and Koerner Road in Peoria — which started as a suspect fled the scene of a woman’s drug overdose treatment at the Shell Station on Kickapoo-Edwards Road.
While police have not actually said the suspect — Jeremy Perry, 43 — was being pursued by police, despite social media video seeming to back that up, one person who does police officer training says it all comes down to the situation.
“They have to evaluate it quick, and of course, at that time, when it’s going on, you don’t have a model policy or a departmental policy in front of you,” said Brian Fengel, Director, Central Illinois Police Training Center, to 25 News.
Fengel says the Illinois Law Enforcement Training Standards Board puts out a document with guidelines, but since an officer spends most of his time in a squad car, it’s not all that practical to have a policy manual in front of you.
Departments do need to have some form of policy in place, though, Fengel said.
“There are a lot of agencies that are accredited, there are a lot of agencies that are not,” said Fengel.
Perry is listed as being wanted on a number of charges from Sunday’s crash, with more that could be filed by the Peoria County Grand Jury next month, according to Peoria County State’s Attorney Jodi Hoos.
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