"It all depends on why you’re running and where you are. In most states, you can be convicted of first-degree murder, even if you didn’t intend for someone to die. These so-called “felony-murders” apply to those deaths that take place during the commission of certain types of felonies, like robbery, burglary, rape, and arson. […]
Does it matter that the reporters in the fatal helicopter crash presumably put themselves in harm’s way? Probably. The county attorney technically can charge the fleeing suspect with four counts of murder, but it’s unclear how strong the argument would be in practice. A judge might decide not to apply felony-murder because the cause of the crash was only
loosely related to the chase. Or a jury might acquit the driver because he couldn’t possibly have foreseen these outcomes. In other words, a reasonable person could expect traffic deaths to result from a car chase. But it might be unreasonable to expect a car chase to cause a collision between choppers pursuing a breaking news story."
It is sad that four news people lost their lives covering a story, and it was dangerous and reckless for Mr. Christopher Jones to attempt to evade the police. However it doesn't mean that he should be held liable for their deaths. It makes a good point, if he had struck another vehicle and killed someone, or caused a traffic accident that caused someones death, then he should be liable for that. The distinction among other things for me, is that other drivers on the road are probably unaware of what is going on, and do not choose to be in the drivers path. The news reporters known exactly what is going on, they choose to follow the story and they know the risks. Again it is sad that these brave reporters have lost their lives, but they made the choice, and took the chance.
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