The link has several photos. Subject line has been revised to read "shots" and not "one shot."

"Neudigate said a Cincinnati SWAT sniper used a .50 caliber rifle to shoot and disable the semi's engine."

Complete article:

https://www.cincinnati.com/sto...oid-area/5465233002/

Sniper shot the engine of the semi, ending I-275 pursuit in Cincinnati, Ohio, police say

Madeline Mitchell
Cincinnati Enquirer
Updated 8:02PM July 18, 2020

7:58 p.m. Saturday update: Cincinnati Police say I-275 has been reopened to all traffic.

Previous reporting: A semi tractor-trailer pursuit that started in Butler County ended near Anderson Township after nearly three hours Saturday afternoon, officials said.

The driver is now in custody, although Cincinnati Assistant Chief Paul Neudigate said charges are yet to be determined. Police believe the man is from out of state and may have an active aggravated assault warrant from Georgia.

"I haven’t seen anything like this in 30 plus years of policing," Neudigate said.

Sgt. Nathan Dennis with the Ohio State Highway Patrol confirmed the pursuit began at 12:54 p.m. Saturday. According to Cincinnati Police, the driver was in custody as of 3:46 p.m. and required treatment from medics at the scene on Interstate 275.

Reports of a reckless driver started in Butler County around 1 p.m., officials said. When officers attempted to initiate a traffic stop, the semi tractor-trailer fled towards Cincinnati.

Neudigate said officers soon became aware that the driver's wife was being held hostage in the vehicle. The driver was potentially armed with a knife or firearm and threatened to harm his wife. Police believe Saturday's incident initially began as a domestic violence incident.

The driver's wife was ultimately released and taken to the hospital, Neudigate said. She possibly suffered a broken leg.

The driver threatened to shoot at police multiple times during the pursuit, Neudigate said, adding that the driver swerved at police who deployed stop sticks to deflate the truck's tires.

Around 3 p.m., the driver unhooked the trailer from the truck near the Kellogg Avenue exit. Multiple police cruisers and a SWAT team continued the pursuit. Neudigate said the man drove in reverse at 50 to 60 mph multiple times towards police officers.

The man then headed the wrong way on eastbound I-275, toward the U.S. Route 52 interchange.

Neudigate said a Cincinnati SWAT sniper used a .50 caliber rifle to shoot and disable the semi's engine. The sniper shot the truck after the woman was released and the highway had been closed.

The driver then held himself at knifepoint when police approached, Neudigate said, and would not deescalate. The man was arrested after he was shot with a Taser and foam baton.

He suffered minor injuries and has already been treated at and released from University of Cincinnati Medical Center, Neudigate said.

Springdale police officer Kaia Grant was killed earlier this year during a pursuit when another driver swerved into her as she deployed stop sticks.

“He would’ve killed somebody," Neudigate said. "Let me make this clear. Had it not been shut down, had we not got involved – the way he was recklessly driving a 5,000-, 10,000-pound vehicle – somebody would have been dead today.”

Neudigate said today was "a perfect example" as to why law enforcement requires certain training and tools.

Cincinnati police, the Ohio Highway Patrol and Hamilton County deputies were all involved in the chase.

Officers are not sure how the man obtained the semi. The investigation is ongoing.

As of 4 p.m., the highway was closed in both directions, according to Ohio Department of Transportation. The highway will remain closed as police continue the investigation.

Police are asking drivers to avoid the area.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Sigmund,

Thanks (as always) for that. I would really like to know the details of how the stop was accomplished.

Cue the mindless indignant Leftist crowd complaining about the "militarization" of the police and how they shouldn't have, or need, any "weapons of war"...

...that particularly nasty .50 cal. "weapon of war", in the hands of a well trained officer, helped to end this incident and likely saved lives.

quote:

The driver then held himself at knifepoint when police approached

I ... I .... I ...

He....whaaaaa?

quote:

Originally posted by RichardC:

quote:

The driver then held himself at knifepoint when police approached

I ... I .... I ...

He....whaaaaa?

quote:

Originally posted by RichardC:

quote:

The driver then held himself at knifepoint when police approached

I ... I .... I ...

He....whaaaaa?

i thought the same thing

we live in a strange world

--------------------------------------

"the driver unhooked the trailer from the truck"

"the man drove in reverse at 50 to 60 mph multiple times towards police officers"

He had time to stop and unhook the trailer and wasn't taken down????

Really? 50-60 mph........in reverse.......in a truck tractor. Really?

Badass.

quote:

Originally posted by DaBigBR:
Badass.

Yep. I bet that shooter is still grinning.

quote:

Originally posted by Sigmund:
“He would’ve killed somebody," Neudigate said. "Let me make this clear. Had it not been shut down, had we not got involved – the way he was recklessly driving a 5,000-, 10,000-pound vehicle – somebody would have been dead today.”

Seems like he had a couple hours worth of chances while the brass sat on their thumbs before letting the big boys to their thing.

quote:

Originally posted by snidera:
[W]hile the brass sat on their thumbs before letting the big boys to their thing.

I have read numerous accounts of incidents involving law enforcement snipers, and it’s surprisingly (to me) common for supervisors to delay action being taken, including terminating shots. Based on my research killing an engine even with a 50 BMG isn’t that easy or guaranteed. At some point the decision should have been made that the subject himself was who warranted stopping by direct action.

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:

quote:

Originally posted by snidera:
[W]hile the brass sat on their thumbs before letting the big boys to their thing.

I have read numerous accounts of incidents involving law enforcement snipers, and it’s surprisingly (to me) common for supervisors to delay action being taken, including terminating shots. Based on my research killing an engine even with a 50 BMG isn’t that easy or guaranteed. At some point the decision should have been made that the subject himself was who warranted stopping by direct action.

Awww c'mon, the A Team blows up engine blocks all the time, with a .223! Should be no problem for a .50 BMG. Seriously though, I too wonder how he had time to stop and unhook the trailer without getting nailed. Maybe they were hanging way(!!) back for some reason?

quote:

Originally posted by phydough:
"the driver unhooked the trailer from the truck"

"the man drove in reverse at 50 to 60 mph multiple times towards police officers"

He had time to stop and unhook the trailer and wasn't taken down????

Really? 50-60 mph........in reverse.......in a truck tractor. Really?

You have to remember, a Journalist wrote this story. You know, an Idiot and Moron, someone not capable of finding their ass with both hands even with the assistance of a Yourtube video.

BTW, drove a semi back in the 70's for my dad a couple of summers and at that time reverse was a creeper gear. I doubt that the Kenworth I drove would do more than 7 mph in reverse with the engine on the governor at 2200 rpm.

Yeeeaaaahhh 50-60 mph in reverse?


I believe it was in Chris Kyle’s book, he talked about shooting an engine to stop a vehicle. Paraphrasing, but he said it was much more effective to shoot the driver.

5,000-10,000 lb vehicle? The empty weight of a tractor trailer is 32,000 to 34,000 lbs, 80,000 loaded. Tractor only would be in the 21,000 lb range. My pickup weighs 5,000.

Thing that sucks is this probably was somebody else’s truck. They just lost a $30,000 engine and police actions aren’t covered by insurance.

It was not one shot as I originally put in the subject line. I watched the first half of the chief's statement (in the link) and he said "rounds" into the engine block.

For fun I've tossed a few rounds into an engine block with a barrett. Mostly in real life I would expect that the damage to the cooling system would be the ultimate stopper unless you got real lucky and hit something vital, which is pretty hard at least on the inlines like a cummings. .

quote:

Originally posted by hrcjon:
For fun I've tossed a few rounds into an engine block with a barrett. Mostly in real life I would expect that the damage to the cooling system would be the ultimate stopper unless you got real lucky and hit something vital, which is pretty hard at least on the inlines like a cummings. .

Note, shooting the radiator will usually kill ad engine but it won't happen quickly. On a modern engine a shot into the "brains" for the injection system would turn the engine off instantly be it gasoline or diesel. If I were a Cop I'd have a listing of the location of the engine control ECU for every common vehicle line in my squad just to provide a reference of where to shoot to instantly disable a vehicle. It would not surprise me at all if this was common practice for police snipers.

Sounds good in principle and I agree with the idea. But I
maintain a fleet of fire trucks and the difference between hitting the ecu or injection system and nothing is like a couple of inches with literally no reference marks to do so. I’d put it in the lucky shot category not something you could plan except maybe if some odd motor had it in a weird reliable to shoot place.

I have seen nothing in the law enforcement sniper literature about obtaining and maintaining information on how to disable a motor vehicle with gunfire. Is it possibly in some individual’s data store? Sure, but I strongly doubt that many LE snipers have given it much consideration. In fact, the little discussion I have seen in the literature has been to discourage the idea that police snipers should be called upon to defeat materiel such as motor vehicles. The exception is, I believe, the expectation that US Coast Guard snipers be able to disable outboard boat motors, and there are even commercial targets available to train and practice for the purpose. That, however, is a far different kettle of fish than trying to disable a ground vehicle’s motor.

The one incident I’ve read about in which an LE sniper disabled a passenger car with 308 Winchester ammunition required three shots that were fired into the engine compartment more or less at random from an elevated position. The engine died shortly after the third shot, but upon examination the sniper discovered that that had occurred because the bullet had cut three of the six sparkplug wires. The sniper himself admitted that it had been a one-in-a-million lucky shot, and nothing to do with intent or skill other than trying to do something.

My advice to anyone thinking of disabling a motor vehicle with gunfire would be to consult with someone familiar with the exact vehicle and to examine one oneself. That of course wouldn’t be possible in many situations.