Meh. "Suspected criminals" if you like. It's a rather fine hair to split, given that fleeing the police is itself a very serious crime, risking negligent deaths.
A fundamental principle on which the law in a free society is based is not a "fine hair to split." The police don't get to decide who is and isn't a criminal, nor are they always justified in pursuing suspects by any means. Certainly not merely because evading the police is a crime.
High speed police chases exist because of the aggressively escalating tactics of American law enforcement. The posted article even mentions that police routinely ignore rules of engagement and alternative methods and put public safety at unnecessary risk. They'll run over pedestrians while chasing someone down for a busted taillight. It's an absurd display of state violence and often unnecessary.
It's a fine hair because it's understood in every pursuit that the suspect has not already been tried and found guilty of the crime that they are suspected of and being pursued for.
Police are obliged to act professionally and within the law and policy at all times. Sadly, sometimes they do not. Rarely, in my opinion, and that rate seems to be declining. In any case, this a very different question from the question of what pursuit policy should be.
We cannot function as a society without criminals credibly fearing arrest and prosecution.
Then would you agree that when police act with reckless disregard for public safety with unnecessary high-speed pursuits of non-felony suspects who don't pose an immediate danger to anyone, the fault for any collateral damage caused lies at least somewhat with those police?
Broadly, if they're out of policy (or not acting legally), yes, they share fault. Policy/law should ultimately be determined by the relevant elected body.
This isn't a simple call, as letting them go is not a zero-cost choice. Often they will go on to commit serious harm against bystanders in the future, perhaps many times.
Generally, someone purposefully fleeing is someone we don't want out in public. They're demonstrating their utter lack of concern for human life.
