He stole a New Castle County patrol car. Did police have any option but to chase?

The pursuit began just before 3 a.m. Thursday.

Tyrese Knuckles had run from a Milltown apartment complex after police were called there for a domestic incident. He only made it about a quarter-mile away before he encountered another responding officer.

Though the officer commanded Knuckles to stop, police said he didn’t obey. As a result, the officer deployed his Taser, which hit Knuckles but was “ineffective,” police said. The 25-year-old was then shot by the officer.

Despite being injured, Knuckles leapt into the officer’s marked patrol vehicle, which New Castle County Police Department Capt. Jamie Leonard said was “in very close proximity to him.” Knuckles tore out of the parking lot, followed quickly by county officers.

Soon, Delaware State Police, Wilmington Police and Pennsylvania State Police had joined the pursuit. Knuckles made it a little more than 20 miles before ultimately crashing near the Commodore Barry Bridge just over the Pennsylvania line. He was taken into custody there and is recovering from the shooting.

No members of the public were hurt in the chase, though two officers – a county cop and Delaware state trooper – suffered minor injuries. Both have since been treated.

Despite this relatively-positive outcome, the incident could have been much worse – something Leonard noted in a Thursday afternoon news conference.

INITIAL STORY: 4 police agencies, a shooting and a car chase: How Thursday morning incident unfolded

"I think there were periods of time that would have definitely put the public in danger if it were a different hour of the day," the captain said. He stressed that a “large amount” of law enforcement were at risk during the pursuit.

With police chases increasingly under scrutiny in light of near-daily headlines about fatal or serious injury wrecks, some agencies are re-evaluating their pursuit policies. Yet once a patrol car was stolen – which carried the New Castle County officer’s department-issued rifle – did officers have any option but to pursue?

Police vehicle ‘changes the game a little’

Brian Higgins, a John Jay College of Criminal Justice professor who is also a former Bergen County, New Jersey police chief, said the answer isn’t straightforward – yet he acknowledged that this “is kind of the age-old question about police chases.”

The ultimate goal with a pursuit, he said, is to maintain a balance between “an officer’s efforts to bring an incident to a conclusion while not making the risk to the public worse.”

Though Higgins, who worked for Bergen County for nearly three decades, has not looked at New Castle County Police Department policies, most agencies on the East Coast allow officers to pursue with certain guidelines, he said.

Considerations when deciding whether or not to chase – and if and when to call it off – typically include the time of day and weather conditions. An area’s landscape, including whether it’s an urban area with lots of people or a more rural area, also plays a role, as do numerous other factors.

“It’s, ‘Is this a time when children are getting off school buses, how heavy is the traffic?’” Higgins said. “At two or three o'clock in the morning, you don't have those risks. There are times when you can pursue at two in the morning when you probably could not pursue during the day.”

Still, he cautioned against trying to apply the conditions of one particular time to a different hour.

“It could be that this pursuit couldn't last 20 miles at a different time of day, even at 10 a.m.,” Higgins said.

No matter the hour, though, Higgins acknowledged that a stolen police vehicle “changes the game a little.”

“It does increase the risk, so that would definitely be a factor during the day,” he said.

HIGGINS ON CHASES: NJ is loosening pursuit rules to let police chase car thieves. Experts say there's a risk

Leonard, the New Castle County Police captain, said one of the agency’s main concerns when Knuckles sped away in the vehicle was that the officer’s patrol rifle was “readily accessible.”

It wasn’t just sitting in the vehicle with no security measures, Leonard said. Long guns such as rifles and shotguns are kept in a password or key-secured compartment. But in patrol SUVs, that compartment is by the driver’s armrest.

There are no trigger locks on the firearms.

“It’s not like he’s going to have to go hunting around in the back to find it,” Leonard said. “They’re kept within the passenger compartment of the vehicle and accessible to the operator.”

The reason for having these higher-powered firearms easily reachable and usable, Higgins said, is because when they’re needed, seconds typically matter.

Body-worn camera footage from officers who responded to The Covenant School mass shooting in Nashville, Tennessee shows exactly this.

In one video published by Nashville police, an officer could be seen running to the trunk of his sedan to retrieve his long gun. Seconds later, he was inside the school, looking for the man who’d gunned down six people.

READ: 'Above and beyond': Nashville police moved fast, saved lives in Covenant shooting, experts say

Nashville police, as well as experts, credited the quick-moving officers in saving lives and ending the active shooter incident just four minutes after it began. Higgins echoed this.

“In most of these instances where an officer would need a long gun like that, time is of the essence,” Higgins said. “They have to be able to get to it quickly and sometimes, they have mere seconds to transition to that firearm.”

Still, given there are safety measures in place in vehicles when it comes to police firearms, Higgins said if the chase had occurred at a different time of day, “there would have had to be this balance” regarding whether or not to pursue.

Fortunately, he said, “the suspect was apprehended and no innocent civilians were injured.”

“It sounds like the conclusion was as good as you can hope for,” he said.

Got a story tip or idea? Send to Isabel Hughes at ihughes@delawareonline.com. For all things breaking news, follow her on X at @izzihughes_

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Did police have any options when chasing New Castle County patrol car?