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In Pursuit
Someone once said that victory goes to the
player who makes the next-to-last mistake. As a rookie officer, I learned this was not necessarily so. One summer
evening, I was in uniform driving a marked squad car when an off-duty Minneapolis cop flagged me down to report three males
acting suspiciously at the local Seven-Eleven. He suspected they may be casing the place for a robbery.
As
I pulled up to the store the three suspects were driving out of the parking lot. It was after dark and the car’s
headlights were off, giving me the perfect excuse to pull them over. I activated the squad’s red lights, but it
soon became apparent that the suspects had no intention of stopping. The chase was on!
I notified dispatch
that I was in pursuit and asked that the store be contacted to see if the clerk was okay and if there had been a robbery.
When the clerk did not answer the phone another officer was sent to investigate. I would not learn what had happened
at the store until the chase ended.
Meanwhile, the suspects fled at high speeds through the cities of Apple Valley,
Burnsville and Savage. The driver’s reckless maneuvers were endangering the public. I decided the chase
would have to end soon.
I soon had my opportunity. While attempting a turn at an intersection, the fleeing
driver temporarily lost control of the vehicle and left the roadway. As the car edged back toward the road, I remembered
that we recently had push-bumpers installed on our cars. With this knowledge, I was confident I could nudge the
front of my car into the suspects’ and force it gently back down the embankment.
As usual,
there were flaws in my plan. Not realizing how quickly I was traveling, I struck the vehicle near the driver’s
door. It came to a stop, as planned, but not without heavily damaging both vehicles. I had failed to observe at
the start of my shift that the squad car I had chosen did not yet have push-bumpers installed. By this time, several
other officers had arrived to assist, and as we rushed the suspects’ car with guns drawn, the steam spraying from
the squad car's radiator obscured our vision. Despite repeated orders to exit the vehicle, the suspects weren't complying.
It took me a while to realize I had jammed their driver’s door shut and pinned the passenger door against an embankment.
The suspects were eventually freed from the car and arrested, but both vehicles had to be towed from the scene.
Upon
further investigation we learned that the suspects were runaways from the Hennepin County, Minnesota Juvenile Detention Facility.
They had stolen the car but had no intention of robbing the Seven-Eleven.
All’s well that ends
well? Let's recap my “victory” in apprehending the boys: Recovering a stolen car for its owner but
severely damaging the same, demolishing the squad car, exposing my greenness to assisting officers…maybe I shouldn't
be patting myself on the back for this one. The police chief didn't.
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