y The Editorial Board
Posted Feb. 13, 2016 at 8:00 AM
"My mom touched so many people," Kevin Lambert said Thursday at a candlelight vigil for his mother, Joy Lambert. "One of her favorite (sayings) was 'hope and love.' If there is anything we need, it's hope and love."
Lambert, who was 55, died in a catastrophic car crash Monday morning at the intersection of South Springfield Avenue and Cunningham Road.
She leaves behind a husband and five children and many friends, including those at West Side Church of God in Christ, where she was a member for 40 years.
It wasn't fate that dictated the terms of her untimely death.
No, it was a car chase in which a Winnebago County sheriff's deputy decided to pursue a car that was exceeding the 45 mph speed limit on Springfield. The pursued car sped up, and the deputy kept chasing. Sheriff Gary Caruana said the deputy stopped chasing the car half a mile before the intersection. The speeding car kept speeding.
That car destroyed Lambert's vehicle, killing her instantly. Lambert's death is a great loss, not only to her family, but to Rockford and Winnebago County. Tributes to her fundamental goodness and great faith in God have come from all over.
All she was doing on Monday morning was going to work at BMO Harris Bank, where Lambert was a senior personal banker. She had worked 37 years at the bank, dating to when it was Amcore Bank and before that American Bank.
This should not have happened. The circumstances of Lambert's death are being investigated by State's Attorney Joe Bruscato and the state police. We strongly urge that this investigation be thorough, no matter where it leads.
The sheriff changed his department's chase policy in September from a very restrictive one to something we're calling a Dukes of Hazzard policy. The number of chases has soared.
The new policy is too dangerous. Remember that picture in the paper recently of an SUV upended on the sidewalk in front of City Hall? It happened because of a high-speed chase by a sheriff's deputy. It's a good thing no pedestrians were around.
This is not a critique of Winnebago County only. In 2014, Rockford lawyer Karen Williams died because her car was hit near CherryVale Mall in Cherry Valley. In that incident, Boone County deputies were chasing a car whose occupants were suspected of knocking over a cellphone store in Belvidere.
Was it worth the death of Williams, who probably would have been a future Rockford leader, just to chase some phone store bandits at high speed?
At the other end of the spectrum, we have the Rockford Police Department. They're too timid to chase a kid pedaling his tricycle too fast. That's wrong, too.
This is nuts. Police chiefs and sheriffs in Winnebago and Boone counties should meet and work out a unified chase policy that follows best national practices. Chases should not be ruled out entirely, but they are extremely dangerous and should only be used in a very limited circumstances.We've simply got to get to a middle ground between "NO" and "Fire up the General Lee.
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