A Lawrence woman which fled the police in a high-speed chase on July 3rd in Salem hadher 12-year-old daughter in the car when she struck another vehicle at a Mobil gas station. Police said that Maria Molina, 36 was fleeing police after stealing three purses at different stores’ parking lots in one day. She told the judge during her arraignment that she was under the influence of drugs when she stole the purses and engaged in a high-speed police chase.
Molina was eventually stopped and arrested on 11 charges, including reckless conduct, theft, disobeying a police officer, reckless operation, and endangering the welfare of a child. Her bail, which was initially set for $50,000 was doubled to $100,000 cash due to her lengthy criminal history.
If we forget about her theft for a minute and think of her conduct after the police recognized her vehicle from victims’ reports and signalled her to stop, we might wonder what kind of a parent would take their child on a wild high-speed police chase, and how lucky was that child to escape injuries from two accidents that happened within minutes.
Instead of stopping her car when police signalled her to pull over, Molina sped up and ran red lights at intersections. Losing control over her car on moments, she struck two vehicles before finally stopping and giving in to the police. Her daughter with her in the car the whole time. It is no wonder Molina was accused of endangering the welfare of her child.
The sad part is that Molina is not a singularly irresponsible parent. The number of incidents in which a child’s life was endangered by parents or caregivers is continuously growing. Just a couple of days before this incident, on July 1st, a man lead a 90 mph police chase with his 2-year-old son in the car. Luckily, the child didn’t get injured, despite his father’s reckless driving and crashing into a fire hydrant and utility pole .
Molina has been blamed by the public of neglecting her children’s life and will face the charges for her actions. On the other hand, we need to ask ourselves if police should engage in high-speed chases for lesser crimes. Do the benefits of potential apprehension of a criminal outweigh the risks of endangering the public and the police? In other words, will capturing a fleeing purse thief make up for the fact that a child’s life was put in danger of injury and even death?
Most parent would never put their daughters or sons in situations where they intentionally speed and run red lights causing collisions with other vehicles just to escape charges for crimes they have committd. So, if parents like Molina, who put themselves first before their children’s safety, do not care if their 12-year-old daughter gets injured or killed in the chase, shouldn’t police be the responsible ones and think of that child’s safety if their parents can’t?
To view the Eagle Tribune news article, please click here.
To read more about the risks of high-speed chases, see this article.
