Criminals in Wellford, South Carolina, now must again be concerned that police may come after them, even if they are more than an arm's-length away.

WSPA News reported recently that Mayor Sallie Peake decided to rescind the no-chase policy she had imposed earlier in the month after talking to a local prosecutor who she considers a good friend.  Trey Gowdy sent Peake a letter saying he was worried that the policy put officers "in an impossible and untenable position to not be able to pursue fleeing felons."  The two discussed the matter, after which Peake announced she had asked the city attorney to draft a new policy that will allow foot chases.

In fact, she said, officers can now "run, jump, climb trees, tumble, wreck cars, whatever they want to do."  That might be going a little far in the other direction, but it still makes more sense than a no-chase rule.

Still defiant, Peake compared herself to Representative Joe Wilson, also of South Carolina, and not just because they both tend to blurt out embarrassing things in public.  "I'm like Joe Wilson," she said.  "He was forced to apologize.  I'm changing [the policy] not because I want to, but because I've been asked to."  Okay.  She insisted, though, that she was not backing down from her defense of the policy the week before.  "I meant what I said, and I say what I mean, and I stand by it!" said Peake, although she in fact had just rescinded it.

Link: News Channel 7