Chases involving violent suspects can always be an interesting situation for police. Sometimes the suspects can’t get away well at all, feign being scared, then lash out with a deadly attack so suddenly it’ll make your head spin. Other times they run like madmen, get taken down hard, then become a little bunny rabbit as they apologize for doing anything bad ever. Then there’s this guy.
Guy steals a firetruck and leads police on a chase.
Michigan State Police were on the hunt for a murder suspect in Saginaw when they spotted him driving around in his truck. A marked cruiser followed him as the guy turned into a gas station, then flipped around and sped off, the chase quickly reaching high speeds down two-lane roads.
It doesn’t take long for the guy to take a turn too fast, veering off onto the shoulder. The troopers in the lone pursuit vehicle believe he’s about to wreck out, but the guy recovers and keeps flogging his pickup.
Pitting the truck at that point isn’t an option since the cruiser is alone. You can hear the driver comment about the risk of such a strategy. We’ve seen plenty of police cars disabled by a PIT attempt, meanwhile the suspect’s vehicle has been left intact. That’s especially true when it comes to trucks.
That little stint on the shoulder flattens the suspect’s front passenger tire, slowing down the chase considerably. But the guy is determined to flee and troopers believe he’s armed with a handgun, with the possibility of more surprises.
Later, the trooper driving has a chance to PIT but he doesn’t seem to like how the suspect behaves as he maneuvers into position. Everyone can play armchair quarterback but it was his and his partner’s lives on the line so we’ll just trust his judgment.
Some still think he should’ve gone for it since the chase went on for a while after, putting others in danger. But later he successfully PITs the suspect, who just spins around and keeps going. This murder suspect seems to know a thing or two about police chase tactics.
Still determined to run, the guy keeps pushing the truck to some impressive speeds considering it’s missing a tire. But he pushes it too far and that’s when he crashes into a house. While we’d say the lesson here is don’t run from the police, we think someone who allegedly murdered another person probably wouldn’t listen to that advice.
