Some pursuit stories,,

I was in dozens of Police pursuits in my career. Most of them were is the southeast San Diego area, due to a high level of auto-theft in the area and narcotics activity.

I had a trainee and we were on 3rd watch in the late 1980’s. We tried to stop a car for a minor violation and the chase was on. It lasted a couple minutes and ended when we came around a hair pin curve and the suspect car was on the side of the road, upside down. My trainee and i got the 17 yr old driver out and his 18 yr old passenger tried to run. He was grabbed by our cover unit. Reason for not stopping. The passenger was dealing narcotics and we tried to stop him while he was on his delivery route. He had several baggies of rock cocaine on him.

Another trainee in southeast a few years later. We try to stop a car for a tail light out. The driver takes off, but every 30 seconds the car swerves sharply to the right. The vehicle stops and the right front passenger runs away. He is caught a block away by a K-9 cop. We arrest the driver for not stopping and the back passenger for being under the influence of PCP. (I had arrested him the week before for the same thing.) I find a vial of liquid PCP under the right front passengers seat, so he goes for possession for sales of PCP. The next day we get three calls from people that lived on the pursuit route. They all found one of the following items in their driveways. A vial of PCP, a loaded 45 automatic magazine and a 45 automatic handgun. The right front passenger had grabbed the steering wheel, 3 times, and threw those items out onto driveways. He was also charged later with the weapon violation.

I was working with a partner on 2nd watch in 1988. We saw a guy on a motorcycle that had stopped to pick up a passenger. When he saw us, he did a “wheelie” a threw the passenger off the bike. He took off and we followed. I drove after him as he tried to make a right turn, but he was going too fast and instead he made a “u” turn on the front lawn of a home. I followed him on the lawn and back onto the street. I followed him to a dead end street that had a dirt covered barricade. Beyond the barricade was a canyon. He must have thought he was a daredevil motorcycle rider, because he sped up and tried to jump the barricade. He went up so high in the air we could not see him from inside the car. I stopped and my partner ran out after him. Well, he and the bike separated in mid-air. He came down first and the bike came down after. The bike hit him and broke his right ankle and wrist. He turned out to be the son of a cop in our command and the bike was stolen. His dad should have told him not to run from the police.

I think we broke his leg…

Southeast 2nd watch, late 1980’s. Another cop and I go on a “man with a gun” call in an apartment complex off of Home Ave. The caller said her ex boyfriend was outside her front window and he was using a small handgun to bang on the glass, because he wanted to talk to her. The two of us arrived together and we found the apartment. We were behind a low wall and we could hear him talking and tapping the glass with his gun. We both came up at the same time, guns on him and yelling for him to drop the gun. He smashed a hole in the window and dropped the gun into the apartment. The other cop was new and also a big guy. He put his gun away to go hands on, while I covered the suspect. he grabbed the suspect by the arm and forced him onto the ground in a circle move. When the guy hit he was on his back and his left leg flopped back onto his chest. That was not a natural position for his leg and I said; “I think we broke his leg.” We got him handcuffed and on his foot, then he told us he had an artificial leg. it went from just below his groin. The suspect turned out to be a local gang member. He also sold “rock” cocaine that he would keep on the top of his fake leg. Always something new.