BATON ROUGE – Following a suspect's death during a police chase, a mother of a teenager killed during a separate pursuit wants more protocols in place to make those pursuits less dangerous.

The man who police chased from Baton Rouge to the Basin Bridge was identified by police as Ronquinci James, 41, who had a lengthy criminal history, according to arrest documents.

The chase started in Baton Rouge, with Baton Rouge Police following the driver who they say stole the van. As it continued, BRPD backed off and Louisiana State Police took over.

James, police say, was driving erratically, which led them to hit the back of the van he was driving. The van spun, and James, who wasn’t wearing a seat belt was ejected from the van, and he had to receive CPR. He is in critical condition.

Ronquinci James, according to arrest documents has previously been arrested for burglary, stalking, and an aggravated flight from an officer charge in 2009.

Erin Martin is the mother of a teenager who was killed when an Addis police officer ran a red light during a chase. Martin’s daughter Maggie Dunn and her friend Caroline Gill both died in the crash. The driver the police were chasing had also stolen a vehicle.

“If we're pursuing stolen property, what's the point of putting hundreds of cars in jeopardy?", Martin said. “Police chiefs, sheriffs and local officials should be taking responsibility and take steps to make pursuits safer.”

According to publicly available data from Baton Rouge Police published in 2021, there were 120 pursuits and 83 of those ended in an arrest and nine ended in crashes.

The department’s policy also calls for a pursuit to end if police know who the suspect is, and also if it is too dangerous to continue the chase.

“Every single pursuit is dangerous, and sometimes the cop catches the person that they're pursuing, and they're a hero,” Martin said. “But we fail to go back and review how many lives were in danger during that pursuit.”