Arkansas State Police officer puts his life on the line:

^ AAAHAHAHAHA! I'm hurt, I'm hurt! AAHAHAHAHAHA!

And Officer Jessica is my new female officer Hero. Hits 127 enroute to the pursuit and performs a textbook TVI.

This is one of the craziest situations involving a vehicle that I've ever seen. The initial 911 call-takers conversations give a small insight into just how crazy this perp is.

I can't believe this guy survived this encounter. It would be interesting to know the total round count.





Link

From the files of the Michigan State Police. "You can run, but not for long from us."

I wonder if he thought he was a rocket scientist....

No audio for the first 40 seconds.

quote:

Originally posted by 83v45magna:
After you watch a few of these, beyond a certain point the stupidity just gets...tedious.

And banal. I could see the 'fleeing motorist's' head roll down the highway and almost be unaffected.

That line from Jack Reacher comes to mind:

'Remember, you wanted this'.

Yeah. After a while I was thinking, “Dang, these idiots are endangering a lot of folks. A policy to give a warning, then light them up if they don’t stop would never fly, but it might be safer for the general public.”

The final portion of this chase has some pretty impressive driving as they ascend a very steep and winding two-lane mountain road at high speed.





Link

Over lunch watched an Arkansas State Trooper video where a stoned idiot riding a HD tried to flee. The screenshot caption of video kind of gives away the ending, but the key takeaway is Arkansas State Trooper will pit a motorcycle.

^^^^ I watched that one last night. That guy had a million excuses for why I didn't stop and not a single one of them aligned with anything he did. The officer wasn't buying it either.

Well, he signaled lane changes and turns, and he didn't dump the bike when he briefly went dual-sporting, I'll give him that.

And the motor was still potato-ing on its side while being recorded.

Three thumbs up for presentation.

quote:

Originally posted by FiveFiveSixFan:
This is one of the craziest situations involving a vehicle that I've ever seen. The initial 911 call-takers conversations give a small insight into just how crazy this perp is.

I can't believe this guy survived this encounter. It would be interesting to know the total round count.





Link

thats a lot of rounds, and still no effective stop

quote:

thats a lot of rounds, and still no effective stop

Exactly. And fired at multiple locations. There were numerous times I was quite sure they had him only to see him squirt out via what appeared to be a very implausible escape route.

quote:

Originally posted by Rightwire:
From the files of the Michigan State Police. "You can run, but not for long from us."
[FLASH_VIDEO]<iframe frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZyRLddr9WkA?si=JdKfpsWHuoyU9R2X" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe>[/FLASH_VIDEO]

What's the purpose of the "STOP" placard mounted on the hood of the Michigan SP cars? It appears to be fixed in position - i.e., not moveable - in which case it wouldn't be readable by the driver of whatever vehicle the trooper is following. What's it there for?

quote:

Originally posted by Expert308:

quote:

Originally posted by Rightwire:
From the files of the Michigan State Police. "You can run, but not for long from us."
[FLASH_VIDEO]<iframe frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZyRLddr9WkA?si=JdKfpsWHuoyU9R2X" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe>[/FLASH_VIDEO]

What's the purpose of the "STOP" placard mounted on the hood of the Michigan SP cars? It appears to be fixed in position - i.e., not moveable - in which case it wouldn't be readable by the driver of whatever vehicle the trooper is following. What's it there for?

Tradition, same for the single red light on the roof. They look like they did 50 years ago when I was a kid there

quote:

Originally posted by Expert308:
What's the purpose of the "STOP" placard mounted on the hood of the Michigan SP cars? It appears to be fixed in position - i.e., not moveable - in which case it wouldn't be readable by the driver of whatever vehicle the trooper is following. What's it there for?

Given that my best friend was a 20 year Trooper I know a bit about this.

Many decades ago, well before flashing or rotating light technology emerged, the MSP needed a way to signal drivers to pull over. They developed the lighted hood sign. The trooper would pull up next to the offending driver on the left hand side. In the evening they would light the sign so ti could be seen.

You'll notice in the picture that Big Swede posted the writing is backwards. That is because you are looking at it from the left side. If you were on the right, it would read properly.

When the rotating beacon light was adopted it was decided to make the hood sign a permanent part of the patrol unit. It differentiated a Michigan State Police car from all other law enforcement vehicles.

As time progressed and other emergency lighting technologies were developed, the MSP elected to stay with the 'gumball' beacon and hood sign. Some of those units are very old and have seen life on a LOT of patrol units.

Maybe 5-6 years ago the MSP relented and began changing the old rotating beacon over to a beacon with static LED lights that would rotate and change pattern. As of 2024 they will be adopting a shorter brighter beacon as the current has issues clearing garage doors in a standard garage. My buddy did a tour around all posts to implement a technology he developed and spent a few days at my place while he did posts in this area. We had to push the garage door past the normal position to get the patrol car (SUV) in and out to clear the beacon.

Another unique feature of Michigan State Police units is they have no cage or barrier that separates the prisoner from the Trooper. Again, tradition.

Many elements of the uniform have remained as they have been for nearly 100 years.

Interesting bit of history there. Thanks to both of you.

quote:

Another unique feature of Michigan State Police units is they have no cage or barrier that separates the prisoner from the Trooper. Again, tradition.

While tradition has its place, this is one area which might benefit from reconsideration.

A more official version:

Fully marked patrol vehicles feature a single red overhead light, the RV-26 or RV-46 "Spitfire" made by Unity Manufacturing that rotates when activated; however, in late 2009, MSP announced that these are being retrofitted with red LED lamps rather than incandescent beams to reduce the hassle and expense of replacing the PAR 36 or PAR 46, 60,000 CP sealed beam bulbs and servicing the rotor motors. Red lenses on some MSP vehicle roof beacons have one or two clear horizontal stripes that allow some white light to shine through, giving the lamps a pinkish glow at long distances. Michigan State Police have continued to use the "gumball" style lights instead of lightbars, claiming they are unique, reduce wind drag, and are highly visible at long distances.

MSP vehicles also feature a clear plastic sign, referred to as a "hood light" or "hailer" or "shark fin" on the hood that lights up when activated. The historical use of this hood light dates from the time when a "side stop" patrol stop would be initiated by pulling up next to an offender and the Trooper would motion them to pull over in daylight; at night the hood light was illuminated displaying the words "State Police" and "STOP" (MSP no longer use the "side stop").

Patrol units also use red and blue LEDs facing to the rear of the vehicle and in some forward facing push bumpers, as well as headlight and tail light flashers. Both the rotating overhead light and the hood light have traditionally been synonymous with the MSP. The rotating red light has been used by the MSP since the 1950's and the current style red overhead light has been in use by the agency since 1979. The red overhead lights on some MSP cars are 25–30 years old.



My buddy used to tell me that occasionally you'd get a patrol unit with a really old gumball. They all made this loud grinding sound you could hear in the car when they were running. Occasionally in the winter when it was really cold the grinding would slow and stop, which meant the rotator was stuck. The Troop would have to bang on the roof with their fist to knock it loose. It was one of the drivers behind going to the LED style light.

He also used to tell me it wasn't uncommon at night to have a local PD or the county in a chase at night. If they were ahead of it they would back into a driverway, road, or trail and sit there waiting. When the saw the suspect vehicle approach they would turn on the gumball, the shark fin, and pull straight out across the street. Apparently seeing that and the big MSP logo right in front of them was enough to stop 90% of chases right there.

quote:

Originally posted by BigSwede:

Tradition, same for the single red light on the roof. They look like they did 50 years ago when I was a kid

1957 or thereabouts, I was in a Regulus Missile squadron based at NAS Chincoteague VA. Each of the units on that base would contribute a few Petty Officers (NCO's, for you guys in the other services), to augment the host base's Shore Patrol guys. I represented my squadron that for a while, rotating one day out of every four days. I drove a gray Chevrolet sedan with a red gumball thingy on top. Radio was on the State Police frequency; they would call us if they had a situation with a Navy guy.

This AS Trooper definitely didn't screw around