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Detroit PD to review car chase policy after crash kills children

Police
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The Detroit Police Department says it will review its vehicular pursuit policy, following a crash earlier this week that killed two young children.

The six- and three-year-old were standing on the sidewalk in their east side neighborhood when a car fleeing police careened onto the sidewalk and struck them.

Several others were injured during the chase, which police said lasted a little over a minute. Police said the car reached speeds close to 80 mph. 

In published reports, Chief James Craig said the chase began after officers thought they saw one of the car's occupants with a handgun.

When the officers tried to pull the car over, it took off.

Ron Scott with the Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality said the driver and the police are both at fault for the incident.

"Neither one of them had concern for the value of life in that neighborhood," Scott said. "Maybe if [police] hadn't started [the chase], it wouldn't have stopped with the car careening a block and a half."

Scott said the coalition plans to conduct its own review of the DPD's chase policy.

"I just hope because of these babies being killed somebody will listen and get their egos and their desire for power out of the way so that we can preserve life," he said.

The Detroit News reports this afternoon that the driver of the car has been charged with murder.

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