Theodore Abraham Resnick was killed when his car was wrecked by a suspected drunken motorist who was being hotly pursued by California Highway Patrol officers, presumably hoping to apprehend the erratic driver to prevent him from hurting someone.

That's the problem. The National Highway Safety Administration found that 40 percent of police chases result in accidents -- 20 percent with injuries. In 1998, the most recent year available for study, 314 people were killed during police pursuits. Two were police officers, 198 were people being pursued -- but 114 were civilians with no connection to the chase.

Like shooting into a crowd, the benefits of police pursuits are often overwhelmed by the risk to bystanders.

This article appeared on page A - 22 of the San Francisco Chronicle