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Stop Sticks Lead To Fatal Crash During Police Chase
A simple device, Stop Sticks, didn’t just end this police chase in Cottage Grove, Minnesota, it ended three lives. The Stop Sticks weren’t actually directly responsible for the suspects’ death in this case – that dishonor is on the shoulders of the driver who kept pushing the crossover after the tires were deflated.
Watch a stolen Dodge Challenger get stopped cold.
The chase began when a sergeant noticed the crossover behaving suspiciously. Trying to pull it over, the suspect driver decided to take off instead. It wasn’t long before the vehicle was going over 100 mph on city streets, which could easily have resulted in killing innocent bystanders.
By their very nature, things happen quickly during high-speed police chases. While it’s easy for everyone to sit around and watch the footage online in the comfort of their home, the reality is cops often have to make split-second decisions where life and death hang in the balance.
In this case, police relied on their training, deploying Stop Sticks instead of doing a high-speed PIT maneuver since the latter is incredibly risky. But even playing it “safe” doesn’t mean there are any guarantees of true safety.
After running over the Stop Sticks, the suspect driver just pushes the mediocre crossover harder. Coming to a bend in the road, the metal wheel rims don’t react like inflated tires, numbing the handling and resulting in the vehicle leaving the road, hitting a tree, and turning into a fireball.
As police show up on the crash scene, you can see the crossover hit the massive tree trunk head-on. Officers draw their sidearms while approaching the mangled vehicle, because sadly even after bad crashes some criminals will ambush cops.
But there’s nobody living in the vehicle to do anything. The roof is caved in, the front end is obliterated, and the occupants are pinned inside. It was a senseless end to three lives, which is why just pulling over and talking to police is always the better choice.
Image via Midwest Crime/YouTube
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