By John Lee, Post-Crescent (Appleton, Wisc.)
Relatives of a man who crashed his car and died during a police chase — after he dropped a baby in a car seat onto U.S. 41 — say “he was not a monster.”
And, the family of Dana Bettin said they wonder why police didn’t just let Bettin keep driving until he ran out of gas after he dropped the baby out of the car.
Police have a different view.
“There is one person who is responsible for the death of Dana Bettin and that is him,” Lt. Nick Scorcio of the Wisconsin State Patrol said.
“It is true that Dana should have made better choices,” his parents, John and Lori Bricco, of Omro, said in a letter to The Post-Crescent. “However, we feel that it is also true that the authorities could have made better choices. If they had, it is possible that our son would be alive today. We feel policy and procedures need to be reviewed and possibly redefined or rewritten for the safety of all involved.”
Scorcio said while he is sorry about the family’s loss, Bettin’s actions didn’t leave police many options.
“He beat up the baby’s mother. He collided with the back of a squad car. He dumped an infant out on a U.S. highway in a lane of traffic, and then continued on at that point,” he said.
“The pursuit after he dropped the baby on the pavement was to try to apprehend him because of the things he had done. He made choices along the way, and ultimately they caused his death.”
Bettin, 23, died Sept. 12, three days after he suffered injuries after leading police on a chase along U.S. 41 from the Oshkosh area to north of Green Bay.
He was being pursued by various police agencies after a domestic dispute with his girlfriend after which he left with her baby.
During the chase, his vehicle struck a State Patrol squad, hit another car and police said, seemed to aim for the Brown County squad he struck — while the officer was setting up stop spikes to puncture the tires on Bettin’s car.
The incident drew national attention after Outagamie County deputy Dan Pamenter told The Post-Crescent about picking up the baby, still belted in a child seat, off the busy highway after Bettin dropped the baby from the car — and continued to drive.
“Once the baby was safe and in the hands of the authorities, why did the officers motion for the chase to continue? Was our son’s life not as precious as the baby’s?” the Briccos asked in the letter.
“After all, by this point, they knew the make and model of the car and who was driving it, yet the video clearly shows the officer gesture to continue. Common sense tells us that, at some point, the car would have run out of gas. If they needed to track him so closely, why not by air?”
Scorcio said officers are trained in pursuit techniques, and said every pursuit police are involved in is critiqued.
Starting, continuing or ending pursuits are among the most difficult decisions officers and supervisors must make, he said.
“We do not enter into (pursuits) lightly, and you have to take into consideration the reason this person is being pursued. They are made with the safety of people involved in mind,” he said.
Bettin was being pursued for domestic violence, recklessly endangering the life of the baby, recklessly endangerment for ramming the back of a squad and other charges that endangered motorists on U.S. 41 in a chase that reached speeds of 90 mph.
“The things he was doing were aggravated and endangered the safety of other people,” he said.
Efforts to reach Bettin’s relatives for an interview were unsuccessful.
Bettin’s sister, Jessica Bricco, misses her brother, and said now she talks to him every day — in the urn that holds his ashes.
“The news and the authorities portray my brother to be someone he wasn’t — a hateful person,” she said. “Anybody who believes this is wrong. Dana was my best and closest friend and my loving brother.”
“Dana’s death came too soon and in the wrong way. My brother would still be alive if the chase would have been stopped.”
“There is one person who is responsible for the death of Dana Bettin and that is him
“I’m not saying he’s a monster,” Scorcio said. “Obviously he had some problems that caused him to make choices he did.”