I offer up no excuses for the driver. They should plant him under the jail. Well, unless he needed to pee or something.

http://www.courier-journal.com...rn-indiana/99973002/

I'm guessing, because its all I have to go on, that when the good officer clocked him at 118 going the other way, then slowed to turn around, found a cross over strip, then accelerated well above the 118 to catch up, he felt there was no risk to himself or the general populace. Or maybe he was concentrating on his mission. We read here all the time about terminating the chase because it presents an unnecessary risk. I wonder how you can define this "chase" as anything other than "unnecessary". I even wonder if the cop had a radio. I even applaud his dedication. And probably his stupidity.

Had he wrecked going 130 or 140 trying to catch the bad guy (again a guess) who's fault would it have been. I even wonder if the cop has a supervisor and if he'll have a discussion about the chase.

And who knew an 18 year old (ok, maybe 17) Nissan could still go that fast? Most average cars are driven what, 12,000 or so a year? Comes out to over 200,000, meaning who knows the running condition of the suspension and steering.

The stupid is deep in this one.

If the charges were Traffic only, it wouldn't be worth it. Like you said, had he wrecked or killed someone else all bets are off.

my guess is the speeder saw the trooper and slowed way down hoping for the best. he was wrong though.

I can confirm that a 2000 Nissan Maxima will totally hit 120 easily.

Knew of a case of a guy in a new Jag back in the 80s. He took it out on the Bluegrass parkway - where it is difficult to get a ticket if you are trying. However Driving 170+ did get someone's attention. Driver noticed this tiny blinking blue light way back behind him. He pulled over and stopped and waited (and waited, and waited) until the KSP caught up with him. God's truth, the trooper asked him why he stopped, because he never would have caught up... and then let him off, asking him to not ever do that again. the trooper's commanding officer relayed the story to me.

I think it is a big assumption that the criminal sustained that speed. If the cruiser hit a reasonable 100 and the speeding car slowed down for traffic, there you go. The story has no detail to know either way...

quote:

Originally posted by sig 226:
If the charges were Traffic only, it wouldn't be worth it. Like you said, had he wrecked or killed someone else all bets are off.

I don't know the laws in that particular municipality, but in some places felony charges can be brought for speeding in excess of X mph over the posted limit.

quote:

Originally posted by ChuckFinley:
Knew of a case of a guy in a new Jag back in the 80s. He took it out on the Bluegrass parkway - where it is difficult to get a ticket if you are trying. However Driving 170+ did get someone's attention. Driver noticed this tiny blinking blue light way back behind him. He pulled over and stopped and waited (and waited, and waited) until the KSP caught up with him. God's truth, the trooper asked him why he stopped, because he never would have caught up... and then let him off, asking him to not ever do that again. the trooper's commanding officer relayed the story to me.

While I was not going NEARLY that fast, when I was young and stupid, I was pulled over for 94 in a 65.

I passed the cruiser, couldn't see him hiding behind the overpass pylon until it was too late. Saw him pull out in my rearview, pulled over to the side of the road before he even flipped his lights on.

He was very appreciative, and lowered the speed on the ticket. But it still cost me $140 and a stern lecture.

This scenario plays out multiple times a day across the nation, I'd expect.

It's the curvy ass country roads or urban intersections that usually kill cops.

On a kind of related note, the NC State Highway Patrol got into a chase a week ago with a minivan. I believe it was just for speeding. Trooper PIT'ed the van, sending it rolling down the highway. 3 or 4 people inside, all ejected. Driver was a 15 year old. So far, 2 of the (juvenile) occupants have died.

Our troopers are known for chasing everything, everywhere. I wonder when that will change.


http://www.wsoctv.com/news/loc...n-anson-co/506995354

quote:

Originally posted by chongosuerte:
On a kind of related note, the NC State Highway Patrol got into a chase a week ago with a minivan. I believe it was just for speeding.

I know what you're saying, but it stopped being "just for speeding" when the driver failed to stop and initiated the fleeing and eluding part.

I'm guessing that's a felony in NC.

-Rob

quote:

Originally posted by BurtonRW:

quote:

Originally posted by chongosuerte:
On a kind of related note, the NC State Highway Patrol got into a chase a week ago with a minivan. I believe it was just for speeding.

I know what you're saying, but it stopped being "just for speeding" when the driver failed to stop and initiated the fleeing and eluding part.

I'm guessing that's a felony in NC.

-Rob

In certain cases it is a felony.

However, the way most agency policies are written, the original cause for the attempted stop is the reason for the chase, unless other information becomes available.

For instance: You turn on your blue lights to stop a car because their registration has expired. The car does not stop, but instead they flee. They may ultimately be caught and charged with driving reckless, etc., but the chase was based on the expired tag. Most agencies that restrict their chases, restrict them based on the original offense. Not splitting hairs with you, speaking entirely on how policies are written and enforced.

Other information would include something like the officer tries to stop a car, and the car flees. The original cause for the stop was not enough to trigger a chase per policy, however after he reads the tag out the dispatcher tells the officer that the vehicle's owner is wanted for murder.


I worked for an agency that didn't have an "other information" clause. At that agency, if you activated your blue lights to stop a vehicle for speeding, and they started shooting at you and killed someone, you would be in direct violation of policy if you chased them. We pointed this out to the policy trolls and they openly agreed with our reading of it, but refused to change it.

In my experience when the offender realize he has been nabbed he will hit the brakes and drop down to the legal limit. If he dropped to 70 the trooper would still have to accelerate to 90 plus from a dead stop to close the distance. That is not a pursuit if the offender is not actively trying to get away, and that's why they call it a police interceptor. Happens every day.

quote:

Originally posted by exx1976:

quote:

Originally posted by sig 226:
If the charges were Traffic only, it wouldn't be worth it. Like you said, had he wrecked or killed someone else all bets are off.

I don't know the laws in that particular municipality, but in some places felony charges can be brought for speeding in excess of X mph over the posted limit.

Oh I don't disagree.. I was referring to other criminal charges associated with the speed eg robbery/assault etc.

120mph, 2 miles per minute. figure 2min to safely find a place to flip around the guy's 4 miles up the road already, figure another minute to get up to speed that's another 2 miles or 6 total.


I doubt the guy saw the trooper flip around at 118mph, so I wonder whether there was any slowdown. To catch up to a car doing 120 and make up 4 miles in the process, the trooper had to have been doing 140, I'd imagine. 2 miles per minute vs 2 and a third, officer covers 7.5 miles to maxima's 6 every 2 minutes, makes up the initial 6 mile gap in 4 minutes.

That of course becomes a lot less if the guy started to slow down at some point.

And I'm far from a scientist or mathematician, so I'm taking wild ass guesses here.

Article says he was tagged at mm 30, and caught at mm 34. No matter what, that Trooper was on a mission...

When first seen they were separating at 3 miles/ minute and more (bg going one way at 2 miles/min, Trooper going at least 60 in opposite direction minimum 60 mph, so 1 mile per min minimum).

These new interceptors are a little faster than the CVPIs, it seems.

Edit for wrong milemarkers. I had 130 and 134, should have been 30 and 34

This section of I64 is very rural -getting stuck behind 2 semis going 1mph over the speed limit is 'traffic'. I usually set the cruise at 85 & state troopers wave as they pass you, or flash their lights to get you out of the way. I doubt 100+ is uncommon.
To catch him in 4-5mi, the dude slowed way down.

quote:

Originally posted by MooneyP226:
Article says he was tagged at mm 130, and caught at mm 134. No matter what, that Trooper was on a mission...

Indeed. It said near the 34 mile marker, but I didn't see where it stated the pursuit initiated. I don't think the trooper would have taken 34 miles to catch the guy...that'd be over 17min pursuit at 120mph.

Started at mm 30 when he saw him going the other way...

"...near the 30-mile marker near the Gibson-Warrick county line, according to a news release.
The trooper, who was driving in the westbound lanes in his police cruiser...He made a U-turn and caught up with Ford near the 34 mile mark..."

quote:

Originally posted by MooneyP226:
Started at mm 30 when he saw him going the other way...

"...near the 30-mile marker near the Gibson-Warrick county line, according to a news release.
The trooper, who was driving in the westbound lanes in his police cruiser...He made a U-turn and caught up with Ford near the 34 mile mark..."

ah, missed that.

Yeah, the guy had to have slowed way down for the trooper to catch him from essentially a stop in 4 miles.

quote:

Originally posted by jcat:

quote:

Originally posted by MooneyP226:
Started at mm 30 when he saw him going the other way...

"...near the 30-mile marker near the Gibson-Warrick county line, according to a news release.
The trooper, who was driving in the westbound lanes in his police cruiser...He made a U-turn and caught up with Ford near the 34 mile mark..."

ah, missed that.

Yeah, the guy had to have slowed way down for the trooper to catch him from essentially a stop in 4 miles.

He was probably thinking "That F-er ain't gonna catch me, but I better slow down in case he radios his buddies".