Pursuit… Score One For The Good Guys!
/Pursuit… Score One For The Good Guys!
By Dale Gabriel
A pursuit can be defined as the effort to secure or attain. Every cop loves pursuits AND hates them. You get an adrenaline rush that is unmatched in any way in life. Let's face it, who among us wouldn't love to go fast and do whatever we want without any consequences? Not only CAN police officers do it, but we MUST. The bottom line, however, is that you DO have consequences. Your actions, though just in response to someone else's, put hundreds of lives in danger every minute. While you have a sense of control, you're REALLY not in control at all. You are at the mercy of that person you are trying to secure. You must do everything he or she does and do it better and faster and safer. If he goes 100, you must go 101. If he runs a light, you must do it better. People are watching YOU. If he passes illegally, you must follow while making sure not to risk any more lives than necessary. Remember, you are not only responsible for your actions and what may happen, but also HIS.
And what about the end; how is it going to end? Will you be forced to call it off, because too many lives are being put at risk? Is he going to crash, possibly hurting himself of others? Are you going to crash? And what about the VERY end, is he going to have a gun and engage you in gunfire or a physical altercation? These are all things going through your mind while you are driving with tunnel vision to "catch the bad guy."
Today's PSP Memory takes us back to one of my pursuits. September of 1999. Midnight shift on a warm late-summer night. Routes 22 and 981 in New Alexandria Boro, Westmoreland County.
I am working midnight shift with one of my regular partners at the time. There were three of us who rotated every night, two on the road and the third on desk. I enjoyed working with both of them, but it was only for a couple of years, then one transferred closer to his home while the other got off steady midnights. Funny thing about this is that their names were Titley and Askins. One day my then ten-year-old comes to me and says "Hey Dad. Your buddies call you Gabe, right?" I told her yes. "Did you know you ride with Tits and Ass?" I kid you NOT. You cannot make this stuff up!
Anyway, back to the story. It's nearly 3 a.m. The bars had long been closed. The night had quieted down. It was time for a little break, so we rolled into Sheetz at the corner of RT 22 and 981 in New Alexandria for a snack. There were only a handful of customers inside. When I go into an establishment, like all police officers, I like to take a look at everybody. See what they are all up to. I smile and say hello. I try to see if anybody is armed or acting odd. It is very evident when people try to avoid you that they might be up to something.
There is one guy in particular who caught my attention. He would not look at us at all. As I walked over toward him to say hello, he walked away. As I attempted to make eye contact, he would not look at me. Watching him for a few minutes, it was pretty obvious that he was intoxicated.
Trying not to make a scene, I cornered him and engaged him in conversation. I soon discovered that he was HIGHLY intoxicated. He appeared to be alone, so at that point, I wondered if he drove there. You think about many things in a situation like this. To be honest, one of the thoughts I had was not saying a word to him, watch for him to leave, and then arrest him for DUI. After all, he DID drive there in that condition and deserved it. In my mind, however, it was more important to keep him off the road than to make an arrest.
I asked him if he drove here. At this point, there were only two or three people inside and only a couple of cars in the parking lot. He stated that he did not, that his buddy dropped him off and would be picking him up shortly, which seemed kind of far-fetched. I told him that I HOPED that was true, because he should not be anywhere NEAR the road. I told him that if it were NOT true, that he was getting a huge break that he needed to call someone to come get him. I considered arresting him for public drunkenness just for being a danger to himself. Then, I would personally call someone to come and get him, but decided against it, since he had not bothered anybody. Subsequently, my partner and I waited around for a few minutes to make sure he really did have a ride. The customers inside and the cars that were in the lot had gone and were replaced with new ones, so it appeared he really did not drive there.
When nobody came after a while, I talked to him again. Now, my concern was that he was on foot, and was going to try and walk home like this. Route 22 is called "death highway." That could be more dangerous than driving sometimes. He assured me that he indeed had a ride coming, but my “spidey sense” was tingling. I was getting a bad feeling.
Ultimately, we left. I made sure to drive out of sight, then circled back across Route 22. I parked in a parking lot up on the hill where we could watch the entire Sheetz parking lot. After a short while, he finally staggered out the door, barely. He walked away from the store, past all the vehicles toward the corner of the property. It looked like he was going to walk home, so we figured we would stop him before he hit the highway. Investigating a pedestrian accident was the last thing I wanted to do that night.
Right before we got back into the lot, he jumped onto a riding lawn mower, and started heading toward Route 981. Before he could leave the lot, I pulled up behind him and hit the lights on the patrol car. He continued going, pulling out and heading onto 981 South. Seriously? And the pursuit was on!! He turned left onto a side street and continued the first 5 MPH chase in my career. After a short distance, I pulled up alongside him. "Tits" jumped out of the patrol car and tackled him off the lawn mower. The pursuit was over.
We arrested him for DUI AND fleeing and eluding the police, among other things. I transported him back to station for an intoxilyzer test and called for his wife to come pick him up upon his release. When she did, we learned that he was home and wanted to go to the bar. She told him that he was already too drunk and took the keys to ALL their cars. When she went to bed, he apparently took the mower.
He was subsequently convicted of DUI and fleeing and eluding police. Score one for the good guys!
Dale Gabriel is a retired patrol and community services officer with the Pennsylvania State Police. After 25+ years of service, in retirement, he has been working on a book of his many PSP memories. He also coaches a baseball team in a Miracle League for those with special needs. He holds a communication degree with English minor from Saint Vincent College in Western Pennsylvania.
