As we turned onto Kings Highway, I had already been listening to the chatter on the car-to-car channel and heard the night shift patrol Lieutenant R.S. (Bob) gather his zone 1 deputies to set up a good roadblock at King’s and 5. When the van completed its turn onto Kings, the van driver was hit with a volley of blue lights to its front as well as his rear. Lt. Bob saw us and announced over the radio that the chase was about to end. A very bold statement indeed. Lt. Bob S. had positioned his roadblock out directly into the parking lot of the Golden Gallon gas station at Hwy 5 and King’s.

When the Van arrived at Lt. R.S.’s roadblock, he slid into the parking lot sideways. I stopped at the back entrance of the parking lot and just watched the show. With tires squealing, the van came face to face with Lieutenant R. Starrett sitting in the parking lot waiting for his chance to jump in. Lt. Starrett had just received the newest patrol car in the patrol division.  Maybe only a couple of weeks or months old. That was his take-home car. He alone would drive it. The van and Lieutenant Bob raced side by side through the parking lot and around to the rear of the store. It was there where I had a bird’s eye view of the coming events in the back of the store. As I said, the van and the LT were side by side to the rear of the store. I already knew that the rear of the store was just wide enough for 1 car to get through. Lt. Starrett was on the inside. In the back of the store, the van rammed Starrett’s new patrol car, forcing it into the back of the store itself. LT was forced into a yellow concrete-filled metal pole, like those in front of the store. Well, the patrol lieutenant was down for the count. I smirked at knowing his car was the latest prize of his fleet. The van entered back onto Kings Highway right where I was sitting, narrowly missing my patrol car. I spun around and was the lead chase car again.

As I left Lieutenant R.S. at the new drive-thru of the Golden Gallon, I was back in the lead again. I saw the Zone 1 units from the roadblock join our chase. I believe I saw the that patrol lieutenant was somehow still in the chase. Wrecked but never out. The van was back on King’s Highway, heading towards Central Church Road again. The driver was now “over-driving” his Van. He turned left and back onto Central Church. But this time he was going much faster than before and cleaned out the ditch. The white van turned onto its passenger side with the driver’s door pointing straight up.

The driver must have been stunned in the accident. He took his time getting out. The Van’s rear doors were solid with no windows. The sliding panel door and passenger door were buried in the ditch. I slid to a stop with my lights on and siren blaring. I positioned my patrol car as a cover. I then bailed and took position behind my door with my weapon drawn. I had no clue what was going on behind me at that time. I was fixated on that driver’s door. I had my weapon trained on the van. “If he pops through that door with the shotgun in his hand, he’s mine.” There was not going to be the yelling of “freeze”. No yelling to “drop the gun”. I would have killed that human being. I was not going to let him touch the ground. Or even run away with the shotgun in his hands. It was that simple.

When the driver finally popped through the door, he started running without the shotgun. He chose to take a bush bond. A foot pursuit was now on. It was then that I noticed about 5 other patrol cars behind mine and about 3 deputies running right behind me with guns drawn. The driver ran behind the first house he came to and into its backyard. I ran behind the house, where I found myself in “pitch black” darkness. It was the first time in my life I actually “noticed” that I could not see my hand in front of my face. I tried. I immediately froze in place. Any movement could possibly draw gunfire. We four deputies had all been engulfed in total darkness. No light was emitted from that house.

There was plenty of light back at the stop. Spotlights, blue lights, headlights. All four of us had taken off running, leaving our flashlights in our patrol cars. Cops know what I speak. I stood still and could hear 4 or 5 sirens blaring from the road’s direction. After a minute or two, the resident turned on his back patio light. That instant, we saw the driver lying on the concrete patio. He was face down with his arms over his head. We holstered and pounced. He gave no resistance. He was very drunk. I took him to jail and charged him appropriately.

(Sidenote)

When we arrived for duty the next day, the day shift jailer told us that the driver said to thank ya’ll and that, “he was glad we caught him”. He said that he was going to take the shotgun to his ex-girlfriend’s house and kill her and her new boyfriend.

(Missing the beginning of the story? Check out The Van part 1)