Here are the opening paragraphs:
A MOTHER and her teenage daughter were killed following a high-speed police chase in Windsor, north-west of Sydney, yesterday.
A blue Mazda RX-8 was travelling west along Windsor Road at high speed when it overtook a highway patrol vehicle at 8.30am.
The vehicle was clocked at more than 170kmh before police gave chase.
I read those words and gained the impression that the RX-8 was carrying the two dead women, and I was wondering who was driving - the mother or the daughter. I thought it strange that a 40 year old woman would drive in such a way, or allow her 19 year old daughter to do the same.You have to read another six paragraphs before discovering that:
The 24-year-old male driver of the Mazda RX-8 was taken to Nepean Hospital in a critical condition with head and chest injuries.
It was only at that point that I worked out that the two women were not in the RX-8.
Is there something wrong with my comprehension abilities at 7am on a Sunday morning, or is the SMH employing people who can't write coherently?
1 comment:
Maybe the reporting and editorial staff are still out on strike, and the janatorial staff have taken over their duties.....
Be that as it may, the whole idea of police pursuits is wrong, on so many levels:
(1) Innocents can and do get hurt;
(2) The driver (in certain circumstances) will get off with a caution;
(3) The coppers will be suspended, sued, and face criminal charges when they do a Rodney King on the "suspect" who almost killed numerous people during the course of the pursuit;
(4) The poor bastard whose car was stolen gets it back flogged to the shithouse, and the insurance company won't cover engine/transmission abuse; and
(5) Pursuits unfairly target certain members of the community.
In order to end these problems with the police pursuit psychology, my theory has always been "don't chase, just open fire!".
A few decent missile hits instead of a pursuit would work wonders.
Of course, deadly force actions like that would need higher authorisation, such as from a Senior Constable, before they were validated.
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