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.

Hospital visits,,,,6 total

Every time a cop gets hurt, it requires a hospital visit. I have been treated 3 times for being punched in the face, once for being bit my a police dog, once for a minor gun shot wound and once for cactus needles. I’ll do that one now.

I was back at northern again, after being promoted to Agent in 1988. I was working graves in Clairemont when I saw a guy getting gas. He was on a motorcycle and he didn’t have on a helmet. When he left i followed and tried to stop him. Again, the chase was on. Dispatch advised it was a stolen motorcycle. He drove up Cole st and he didn’t know it was a dead end. He bailed off the bike and went into and back yard. I was lean and mean, due to the recent SWAT Academy, so I ran after him. We both rolled over a bent chain link fence and then into the canyon. Every time he would trip and roll, so did i. I finally rolled on top of him and I got my cuffs on him. I had lost my gun, radio and a gun magazine. Officers arrived and I found my lost items. I remember running through cactus and I told the Officers to check him for that.He had a thick leather jacket on and no cactus needles in him. I got back up to my car and I noticed that my right arm, from the elbow to my hand, was covered in cactus needles. My right thigh was in the same condition. A female sgt took me to a local hospital and I got a tetanus shot and a pair of tweezers. We spent the next hour pulling needles out of my skin. I got to go home early and I headed straight for the Jacuzzi with a large bourbon and coke. One of the needles worked it’s way out of my thigh a year later.

I was working SE graves in the mid 90’s. I had a reserve trainee and we were on Main st. It is the border of San Diego and National City. I heard a police siren and checked my radio to see if it was on the right channel. It was, so I thought it might be a National City unit. I saw a car go past us followed by an SDPD K-9 unit. I got in behind the K-9 and started to call the chase. After two blocks the suspect crashed into a parked car. He ran back toward us and I pulled up to make him run around my car. I told my trainee to get out and go after the guy. I opened my car door and started to get out. The next thing you know I looking at a German Shepard. The dog had bit my left arm. I knew better than to fight him, so I yelled at him in German and told his handler to come and get his “F@$&ing” dog off my arm. The dog released the bit and sat back. The suspect got away and I went the hospital. I was lucky. I had on a leather jacket and a long sleeved shirt. I still have a small scar from the dogs left eye tooth on my left forearm. The dog was running after the suspect, but when I pulled up he went for the door opening. It was just his training kicking in. The K-9 cop told me that when he runs code-3 his dog just starts barking and he is so loud the dispatcher can’t hear him on the radio. He was just going to chase the guy and see what happened.