Los Angeles ranks as the deadliest U.S. county for police pursuits, but more than half of people killed are not the suspects being pursued. Police pursuits occur several times a day throughout Southern California and the pursuits that end in crashes often result in injuries or fatalities.

Sixty-two people were killed from 2004-2013 due to fatal traffic crashes involving police in pursuit in California, according to data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Of those 62 fatalities, 33 people were either occupants of another vehicle on the road or bystanders -- which means that 53 percent of people killed were innocent victims caught up in a deadly police pursuit.

On Oct. 5, California Highway Patrol officers took a pursuit driver into custody after he led authorities onto the 10 Freeway with multiple black and whites trailing behind him. On Oct. 2, a slow-speed pursuit ended with a standoff and the driver in handcuffs outside an In-N-Out Burger in Panorama City. And, on Sept. 10, a carjacking suspect was shot and killed by police following a high-speed pursuit and standoff at a crowded restaurant in Downey.

These incidents are just a few of the most memorable police chases that have taken place in Southern California over the last month. But, as the statistics show, the thrill that comes along with police chases sometimes carries a deadly price tag.

Police pursuit policy and tracking

The California Highway Patrol defines a pursuit as “an event involving one or more law enforcement officers attempting to apprehend a suspect operating a motor vehicle while the suspect is attempting to avoid arrest (or detention) by using high speed driving or other evasive tactics, such as driving off a highway, turning suddenly, or driving in a legal manner but willfully failing to yield to the officer's signal to stop.”

The Los Angeles Police Department, the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department and the CHP all have separate pursuit policies.

LAPD’s pursuit policy discusses the factors involved in initiating a vehicle pursuit, including “whether there is an unreasonable risk to the public’s safety, to the pursuing officers’ safety or the safety of the occupant(s) in the fleeing vehicle.”

LASD’s pursuit policy makes mention of vehicle operation and tactics, offensive tactics, roadblocks, pursuit termination technology/devices, passing, surveillance mode and use of firearms during pursuits. The sheriff’s department will only pursue someone under certain conditions, according to LA County Assistant Sheriff Todd Rogers.

And to minimize the likelihood of a pursuit, sheriff’s deputies who intend to make a vehicle stop should be within close proximity of the vehicle (when it is practical and safe) before activating their red light and/or siren, according to LASD’s policy.

“A lot of our pursuits are canceled,” Rogers said.

The CHP’s pursuit policy is not made readily available online and the policy was not received as of publication time.

California law grants public agencies blanket immunity from civil liability that may arise from vehicle pursuits. In 2005, the California Legislature enacted SB 719, a bill that increases penalties for fleeing in a motor vehicle from police and requires each agency to adopt periodic training relative to pursuit policies in order to qualify for immunity.

The NHTSA, part of the Department of Transportation, is the governmental agency tasked with recording and analyzing every fatal motor-vehicle crash. Fatal crash statistics involving police in pursuit are cataloged using the agency’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS).

But, the accuracy of this reporting system has recently come into question. USA TODAY published an investigation on Sept. 29 alleging that the NHTSA “has overlooked at least 101 motor-vehicle deaths in 2013 that were related to a police chase.”

In response to the allegations of undercounting fatalities, the NHTSA said it is looking into the matter.

"FARS is a cooperative arrangement between NHTSA and our state partners and law enforcement officials. The data helps us identify national safety trends on U.S. roads and we appreciate their efforts as the front line to collecting and coding the FARS data," NHTSA spokesman Derrell Lyles said in an email. "NHTSA plans to look down the list and request Police Accident Reports (PARs) from the states. We are very interested to make sure we haven't made any coding errors," he added.

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“Working for a safer way”: Pursuit SAFETY

PursuitSAFETY is a group that is working to reduce the number of deaths and injuries as a result of vehicular police pursuit and response call crashes. The national nonprofit organization is “working for a safer way,” according to its website.

Candy Priano, the founder and victim services director of the organization, created PursuitSAFETY 13 years ago after her daughter was killed in a police pursuit in Northern California.

Candy, her husband Mark, son Steve and daughter Kristie were on their way to Kristie’s high school basketball game when their minivan was struck by a fleeing suspect’s vehicle in Chico on Jan. 22, 2002.

The suspect, a teenage girl, was being pursued by the Chico Police Department because she had taken her mother’s car without permission.

Kristie, a 15-year-old honor student, athlete and community volunteer, suffered massive head trauma and died six days later from injuries she sustained during the crash.

“You never pray to keep them [your children] safe from a police pursuit … no one thinks it’s going to happen to them,” Priano said.

Following Kristie’s death, Priano says she received an outpouring of support. She received letters from across the country and around the world from people who had also “experienced the tragedy of pursuit.”

While not every chase has a tragic ending like Kristie’s case, Priano says “you can’t put a number on the killing of innocent people.”

“The truth is when it’s your own [family member] … It’s one too many.”

Southern California is known for its wild police chases. Watch a collection of some of the wildest moments from the most infamous, dramatic pursuits. (Video by Whitney Ashton/Courtesy of NBC4 Southern California)

The Chase that Killed Kristie

Chico police officers were pursuing another teen who had taken her mother's SUV without permission

Kristie's Story

Kristie Priano, 15, was killed by a teenage driver fleeing from the Chico Police Department in 2002. Listen to Kristie's mother, Candy Priano, recount the fatal collision.