Teens cannot make logical decisions during police pursuits, psychologist says

Tuesday, 15 January 2019

Teenagers do not have the mental capacity to make logical decisions when being pursued by police, a clinical psychologist says.

Glen Mcallister, 16, Craig Mcallister, 13, and their friend, Brooklyn Taylor, also 13, died after they hit road spikes and crashed into a tree on Christchurch's Blenheim Rd. The vehicle then exploded into a ball of fire.

Clinical psychologist Dougal Sutherland said teenagers did not have the mental capabilities to make logical decisions when being pursued and would escalate the danger by attempting to flee police.

Craig Mcallister, 13, Brooklyn Taylor, 13, and Glen Mcallister, 16, died in a crash after fleeing police in Christchurch on Sunday night.

Clinical psychologist Dr Dougal Sutherland says brain development doesn't stop until a person is about 25 years old.

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The charred remains of the car that crashed into a tree before exploding into a ball of fire on Blenheim Rd on Sunday.

* Young brothers killed after fleeing car explodes in 'huge ball of fire'

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Flowers and messages surrounded the tree, which the fleeing teens crashed into on Sunday.

'At the time of the pursuit I think they would be in the state of fight or flight.

'They're pretty much acting in a state of adrenaline and not really thinking particularly clearly. Their sole aim would be escape from that source of danger.'

It was important to consider about the age of such young people, as they did not have the decision-making and planning capacities of adults because their brains had not fully developed, he said.

'Many teens get up to this sort of mischief. We need to be careful to not treat teenagers as mini adults as their brains are not as developed as adults and brain development doesn't stop until about 25.'

He urged police to abandon pursuits if they identified the driver of the fleeing vehicle was a teenager, as there was potentially more risk in pursuing them.

'They're going to flee, they're not going to think clearly and if there's multiple people in the car they are more likely to be influenced rather than thinking of safety.

'But I think the police are charged with an incredibly difficult task of within a split-second being able to identify the age of the driver in a car that's maybe 50 metres in front of them.'

Sutherland said it was important to note that anti-social behaviour such as sneaking out at night and getting into trouble was not unusual for teenagers.

'They get … acceptance by their friends and that tends to override any sort of logical decision making capacity.

'They want to appear cool to their friends, they don't want to wuss out on it, they don't want to be caught [and] they don't want to risk being rejected by their friends.

'Unfortunately, it's not a particularly unusual thing, but it's got very tragic consequences as we have seen in this case,' he said.

The Independent Police Conduct Authority of New Zealand is expected to release a report reviewing fleeing driving cases in February.

The report is expected to provide insights into common themes or causes of fleeing driver cases.