A former sheriff’s deputy wants to put an end to police chase deaths with his new app.
The free app is called “PursuitAlert” and law enforcement officers would be able to alert the public of a nearby chase.
Pending federal approval, Tim Morgan said, you should be able to start using his app in about four months.
Jackie and Stacey Whitney flew up from Texas for the unveiling of his app in Pickens on Monday.
They lost their son Garrett less than two months ago to a deadly police pursuit outside Dallas, Texas.
“Right now, we are just still numb by it. We are just doing anything and everything we can to help make sure this doesn’t happen to another family,” Stacey Whitney said.
Whitney told News 13 she made a promise to her son at this funeral to help prevent another police chase tragedy.
“I made him a promise that momma would do something to make changes,” Stacey said.
So, her and Jackie got to work and came up with an idea.
“I was thinking, if there were some way he knew, beforehand, if it was coming it would be something that was useful,” Jackie said.
But, then Jackie found “PursuitAlert” and Morgan online.
“I was in law enforcement for 37 years and one of the most difficult incidents I had to deal with was the death of an innocent victim in a high-speed police pursuit,” Morgan said.
After retiring from the Pickens County Sheriff’s Office, Morgan started designing pursuit alert.
According to Morgan, at the flip of a switch, officers could send out a push alert to smartphones within a set radius around a chase.
The app would then alert users to “proceed with caution,” Morgan said, if there’s no longer a threat from a chase.
“We’re sending a notification out to all the sheriff’s in the nation that new technology is on the market.”