View from the cop: Crime & punishment
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AJC.com > Metro > View from the cop > Archives > 2008 > November > 24 > Entry
Speed can be a sure killer
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Someone said something in my last blog entry about the car that recent crashed on 400.
120-plus MPH and all it took was one swerve and it’s the ball game, folks. Ever seen a car going that fast? I mean this guy’s luck was definitely not there as far as hitting the bridge abutment but at that speed, his luck was running out fast because going south on 400 towards 285 gets more and more crowded. From what I can tell they don’t know why he was doing that fast.
Reaction time is almost non-existent at that speed and on GA 400 at that time of day it was suicidal. (That’s not to say that’s what this incident was about.)
I worked a suicide on GA 400 many moons ago before the divider was put in.
A woman going north just north of Northridge crossed the median grass and hit a garbage truck—big garbage truck head on, killing her instantly. No other cars on the road. No brakes just tire tracks with a direct diagonal line to the truck. She had the “Frozen Face” meaning she saw it coming. Arms were broken because she had a tight grip on the wheel. She had some romance problems but nothing serious as far as we could tell. She was young too.
Aside from someone who wants to kill themselves in a car, what many people think is that you’re surrounded by metal that will hold up on an impact. You would be surprised as to how fast the inside of a car folds up on impact. We find wrecks where we have to look for a few seconds to find the body. It’s like a Cocola (remember-that’s how we pronounce it in the south) can stomped on.
Back in the day, vehicle pursuits were called chases. Now, most chase policies are very modest because the chase-ee, ie: bad guy, is out of control and that car isn’t going too far before it hits something or someone. That’s why pit maneuvers are more popular in training scenarios. They work if you can get to them in time. Most chases lasted one or two minutes. Motorcycles were cut or dry. They either got away or they wrecked. You rarely caught one. I can remember several fatalities on motorcycles running from the cops.
In the 70’s I had a 1976 Pontiac Le Mans patrol car with the big 400 ci V-8 engines. It was fast and it was low and flat and would fly. I got into a chase with a 280-Z that went from Fulton to Doraville, Chamblee, DeKalb, back to Fulton, and then Cobb. It took 29 minutes and was by far, the longest chase I was ever in. DeKalb PD had Volares (remember them?) and blew about four of them up during the chase. I was out-driving that guy on the back roads and could almost overtake him on the freeway. We got on the access road and crossed Chamblee Dunwoody at the entrance to 285 West in the air—no kidding—in the air.
Here’s the kicker: I never caught him. Never did.
Here’s the other kicker: Initially, I had pulled him over for laying drags. Not exactly crime of the century.
Here’s yet another kicker: When my adrenalin stopped pumping—and it pumped for 29 minutes, I freaked out. It was late at night and no traffic but later, when I thought and re-lived that chase, I freaked out. At a number of points during that chase, I could have wrecked and done what that guy did on 400 because I was hitting 120-130 MPH in places that weren’t designed for it—namely, well, roads. I went home and did not sleep and I remember talking to my then wife who, now that I think about it, slept through my emotional declaration, and the more I talked the more I realized how close I came to killing myself and whoever else would have been in the way at the wrong time.
I never made that mistake again. I got into car chases again but never let the adrenalin drive the car again, that’s for damn sure. Most chases were the result of a felony and I broke a few off just because it was getting too risky. Like I said, chase policies are modest now days simply because of the risk. No days, I don’t chase cars because I don’t go over 50 MPH and I’m so damn far sighted, the last time I reached for the blue-light button, I accidentally opened the trunk. Not cool.
Vehicle pursuits still occur but the training involves when to shut it down. Most cars have video and the tag number of the bad guy is obtained. Just because they get away that night doesn’t necessarily mean we don’t snatch them later or at least put a hit on their credit score. (That would be really cool.)
Hell folks, you can be killed in a car doing 30 MPH. Reaction time is usually the nail in the coffin. Multiply that at 120 MPH and like I said, it’s close to suicide. Remember that guy the cops were chasing a few years ago from Alpharetta? He wrote a bad check at a liquor store and ended up running from the cops on 400 south. He tried to make the 285 west ramp but was too fast. The car rolled, ejected the driver, who then bounced (sort of) and crossed the median wall, then was hit by the eastbound car? There’s video of it and it ain’t pretty. He probably never knew it hit him but again, NOT PRETTY!!
Even if you do something really, really stupid, like rob someone or re-broadcast a pro football game without the expressed written consent of the NFL, and it seems like escape is the answer, that car will get out of control so fast you are almost certain to wreck. You can’t run from something and drive at the same time. Nobody multi-tasks that well.
Don’t panic, pull over, call it a night. Uh, well, go ahead and confess if you want—we’re good with that too.
Comments
By Dixie
November 24, 2008 1:22 PM | Link to this
Lt. Steve - LMAO at the blue light/trunk mistake. Next to the light switch in my cj5 I used to have a sensitive windshield washer switch. If I pushed that instead of my lights everyone in the front got a squirt. It was very embarrassing.
In the early 80’s I was doing 60 (OK maybe 70) down 85 just south of spaghetti junction. A quick but heavy rain shower fell and in the blink of an eye I did 3 360’s and ended up in the grass. I was just plain dumb luck that I didn’t hit anyone. It happened so fast that it was over before I knew the car was hydroplaneing. The shock of how quickly it happened was enough to make me slow down. Well that and 2 tickets.
By Fred
November 24, 2008 3:26 PM | Link to this
I loved the autobahn in Germany. there are just two speeds (or were when I was there), for a car. Wideass open, or off. 120 was actually kinda slow. But then when everyone else is doing the same or faster it gives a different perspective. Also they behead the left lane butthead nazi’s that drive exclusively in the left lane slower than the flow of traffic, and lane darting without a signal is punishable by severe maiming. Also, if you pull out in front of a faster car and get rear ended it’s YOUR damn fault, not the person you pulled out in front of. Ah the good old fast days…………
By Hootie!!!
November 24, 2008 3:27 PM | Link to this
Now THAT is a well written column! Thanks for the giggles.
By Tony
November 24, 2008 4:02 PM | Link to this
Lt, I hate chases also. I was involved in two in October and both bad guys wrecked. One was a drunk who tried to hit my car and the other was a convicted felon who had just committed another felony. I also don’t allow the adrenalin to take over. I just do my best to stay with them and hopefully they won’t hurt anyone.
By Cassie
November 24, 2008 5:07 PM | Link to this
Dixie - I did much the same thing myself, although on a backroad, in a blind turn, with my fool sister screaming her head off beside me. Nothing makes you get over your fear faster than your sister having hysterics. Urge to kill replaces urge to pee in pants!
No deer :-(
Two pigs!!
And this has been one of the best columns so far….Atlanta drivers annoy me, and I can’t think of a more frightening thing than a car chase.
By Dixie
November 25, 2008 5:05 AM | Link to this
Cassie - Did you make your sister ride in the trunk after that? I’m glad you’re back. Sorry you didn’t nab any venison. Will you cook the pigs in the ground? Or do you have them processed? In my last house I built a covered single pig pit. My grandfather had one too. I think the best sauce is just a gallon of honey, 5 lbs brown sugar, 2 bottles brown mustard and a case of Budweiser. Mixed in a five gallon mud bucket and mopped on the pig every time you turn it, yum. The crispy outsides are the best.
As far as Atlanta drivers - It wasn’t this bad 30 years ago. Most of the folks in Atlanta aren’t from here now. Chicago is my fave place to drive. Except for the lines that build up because of short turning lanes. Guess when they didn’t count on this population when they laid out the streets 120 years ago. Pheonix and Charleston, SC are good too. I still have to go w/ NY and Orlando as the worst.
I’d think that desert roads provide the fastest car chases.
Lt. Steve - are there any statistics on which state has the highest percentage of fleeing felons being chased?
By Sweet P
November 25, 2008 7:01 AM | Link to this
Remember the OJ car chase? It was so fast, the had to film it in slow motion, man. They have mined some data about the speeds reached by innocent versus guilty people who run from cops in cars. They found that if you go more than 125, you are guilty, from 114-124, you are innocent, and from 101-113, you are nolo contendre, and surprisingly, from 90-100 you are in contempt of the friends of the court but still can be released on your own incognito.
This proves they should outlaw police chases once and for all and for the common good.
Zoom Zoom
By Cassie
November 25, 2008 8:58 AM | Link to this
Dixie - The pigs are, in fact, being drained of their blood in coolers on my front porch. I’m sure my neighbors are thrilled. We wil be making enough sausage, however, to feed a small army (the girls clocked in at 85 lbs). We might bbq the ribs - I’m with you on the sauce, although I like honey, cayenne, and black pepper….
NY was bad; Paris was HIDEOUS. It encouraged me to remain a pedestrian or better yet, take cabs. Roundabouts are not things my brain can comprehend.
By Dixie
November 25, 2008 12:43 PM | Link to this
Cassie, do you use stovetop stuffing when you make your sausage?
By Cassie
November 25, 2008 2:56 PM | Link to this
I will not be the one making it!! Someone else will be making it, with some cajun seasonings…I’ll have to tell you how it turns out. The deer sausage (made similarly) was QUITE tasty (and made great black bean chili).
I never thought about using stuffing though….
By Dixie
November 25, 2008 7:16 PM | Link to this
UHMMM - at 12:43 today The real Dixie was donating blood. This is twice he has posted under my name.(boring) Same thing happened to Catlady and Fred in the last 3-4 months.
To my stalker - At least type like I do. You did better this time but if you can’t do it right then please stick to your own name(s).
Cassie - His stuffing remark was likely a response to my comment on your sister.
This afternoon I saw someone speed up to get through a light. The intersection is sloped for rain run-off and they hit so hard on the other side that the muffler scrubbed and the back end (including tailpipe) came off. To make matters worse - the intersection is photo enforced. This poor fool will likely get a ticket for running the light AND littering.
By Tom T
December 9, 2008 6:12 PM | Link to this
Lt. Steve:
Long ago and far away when I was a slick-sleeved RE-cruit I made the mistake of letting adrenalin drive the car in a chase. My situation was complicated by black ice on a curved portion of an Iowa blacktop. My squad left the road and hit a utility pole (which did NOT endear me to my Chief). I hit that pole so damned hard that the impact slid the light bar forward about 3 inches on the roof of the car!! Doctor said that if I hadn’t been wearing my vest the impact of the steering column to my chest would’ve most likely killed me.
Too soon old, too late smart.
By Drive Softly, Boys
December 10, 2008 9:10 AM | Link to this
There should not be car chases. If the crooks are in a car, and you’ve spotted them, you’ve got them. There’s no way to escape. Except if you chase them.
Pathetic. Just pray, coppers, that you never crash into my car while playing smokey and the bandit. Your captain’s dismay will be the least of your problems.
I’m reminded here of the song, “Sympathy for the Devil”, and the lyrics, “Just like every cop is a criminal, and all the sinners saints”.
Mick, we hardly knew ye.
word up (yours).