Listen to the interview with Delta County Sheriff Ed Oswald
ESCANABA — More than 95-thousand people on Facebook have seen a dash cam video of a Delta County Sheriff’s deputy’s chase of a stolen vehicle.
The pursuit runs from the Boney Falls area to Gladstone along County Roads 426 and 420. It ended at the bottom of South Hill Road near U.S. 2 and 41 when stop sticks were used to deflated the tires on the vehicle.
At one point, Delta County Sheriff Ed Oswald says he saw on the video that there was a chance for the deputy to hit the stolen vehicle with his patrol car.
“I was thinking, would I hit the vehicle or wouldn’t I? I know the vehicle was brand new but we really try to make policies to allow officer discretion because you can’t spell everything out in a policy. This was one policy we had that didn’t allow for policy discretion,” Oswald said.
Oswald said they changed the policy because of the video to give deputies the option to use the patrol car to stop a fleeing vehicle.
Not all patrol cars have dash cameras. Oswald says this is an example of why dash cameras are needed. He also advocates body cameras for deputies. The cost would be about $70-thousand to fully equipment the department. Oswald says he is trying to raising money for the cameras through grants.
The chase occurred on June 25. 37-year-old Jack Lopresto of Rock pled guilty this month to charges stemming from the chase. He will be sentenced Oct. 22.