The Police Are Not to Blame

Editor,

I’m appalled to hear that the Koenig family has hired a high profile lawyer who obviously plans to sue the city. While I was sympathetic to the family who lost a son, that sympathy has quickly evaporated. I was surprised and relieved that no one else was killed that day, I was a witness that day to the speeding and the aftermath of the crash.

Koenig sped by me on the wrong side of Coast Highway at 90 plus miles per hour and ran the red light at Nyes. If I had turned left that day (which I do one or twice a week going to work), I would have probably been killed. After the crash, I have no doubt that Koenig would have continued driving in the same manner, posing a terrible threat to innocent lives, including my wife and youngest boy heading back from El Morro school.

To second guess what the police might have been done in a perfect world is ridiculous. Grab the keys? Would have been nice, but I’m sure they were trying to figure out what happened with a large multi-car accident. Stop him before he got to Laguna? He came up from Dana Point at 90 to 100 miles per hour. Dana Point and Laguna Beach are adjacent cities. He would have covered the six miles or so in a matter of a few minutes. How could he have been stopped, let alone safely?

Let’s put the blame squarely where it belongs: Colby Koenig’s reckless disregard for human life and the poor choices he made on that morning that directly led to his death. Whether or not Koenig’s behavior that day was “inconsistent” with his parent’s view of him is completely irrelevant. He was a major threat to public safety, didn’t respond to officer’s commands to stop and I’m positive would have injured or killed others had he been allowed to continue his rampage through town. I support our police department 100 percent in this incident.

Rick Smith, Laguna Beach