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A major change is in the offing for the Houston police department.

KHOU-TV

The suspect ran into the McShan's car while driving the wrong way down a highway ramp.

Officers will no longer be allowed to participate in some high speed chases.

 To say the least, many HPD officers are upset Tuesday night.  Some called 11 News to vent about a new chase policy that they said has just been adopted and handed down from headquarters.

“I think it’s somewhat of an asinine policy considering the situation we are in as far as crime in this city. It’s sending the message to criminals,  ‘just go ahead and run’,” said Police Officers Union president Hans Marticiuc.

Marticiuc says the new policy states no officer can chase a suspect who won’t pull over during a routine traffic stop or is involved in a Class C misdemeanor.

In January, a man was involved in a Class C misdemeanor assault at a restaurant and just took off. He ended up crashing into Diana McShan’s car as she was entering the Southwest Freeway.

At the scene officer Tom Nixon was upset that the department didn’t have a policy to be more aggressive and end the chase earlier

“I mean which would you rather have a suspect pushed into a concrete retaining wall or an infant en route to the hospital and almost killed? Which would you rather have? That’s a decision that has to be made,” Nixon said then.

But now the department’s decision now is to take this issue the other way, to basically not chasing anyone unless they are a known felon or have committed a felony.

“The citizens of Houston should be up in arms about this. This is crazy,” said Marticiuc.

Marticiuc said if a person runs from police. there is usually a reason.

The other side of this issue is that innocent people have died because of police chases.

Last year Denis Verdecia was behind the wheel headed to work when in a split second his life ended.

Police were chasing a suspect who had just taken an SUV at gun point.