The Van Part 1
One early morning in the early 1990s, around-o-dark 30, the D.U.I. Unit met for lunch. We called each other on the sheriff’s band to meet at the Waffle House at I-20 and 92. At that time, the DUI Task Force consisted of members LT. R. Cain, Sgt. E. Englett, and Deputy “Chip” S. When we entered the waffle house, we chose a window booth facing the parking lot and front door. Doc Holiday style, I guess. About halfway through our lunch/breakfast, I was startled by a man outside banging on our window. He was jumping hysterically and waving his arms around frantically. He was yelling something. Evidently, the Waffle Houses of that era had very thick, soundproof glass. So, I got to my feet and meandered towards the door. What now? As I got to the door, I heard the man yell, “That guy just stole a shotgun out of one of yawls cars and there he goes”! I saw a flat-nosed 70s-style panel van dart past me and turn to the left from the parking lot. I knew that his left turn would lead to a dead-end. I might have a chance to block him in there if I could get to my car quickly enough. I “unlocked” my patrol car and jumped in and fired that mother up. My shotgun was still intact. I was the first out. No 10-80 yet.
I exited the parking lot and turned left. I had lights goin’ and the siren blaring. I saw the “Van” completing its turn at the dead-end and starting to come back towards me. I was trying to block the van with my patrol vehicle before he could get up to speed. I could not allow him to get out into the public. I had to stop him before he could get to State Hwy. 92 or even Interstate 20. I decided to go head-on and force him off the street. By the time he got to me, he had already gotten up to speed. I felt like the head-on would not go well for me. He started his run for freedom by hitting the gas.
When he began barreling toward me, I copied his every move. As I was getting closer to an impact, I could see the driver. He was a white guy scrunched up against the windshield with an, “I’ll never be taken alive” look. I could see his determination and the “I’m not bullshitting” look on his face. I swerved out of the van’s way and turned in pursuit. Yes, I was bullshitting. The driver barreled through the roadblock that the LT and Chip made outside the Waffle House parking lot. In those days, the State Law was very explicit about how you can and cannot roadblock fleeing criminals. “The State”, requirement was to leave an “out” at roadblocks. Which was a “semi” clear path around or through a roadblock. None of that Vanishing Point movie-type roadblock was allowed. I also blew through the roadblock and onto Interstate 20 West… Alabama Bound.
The Van driver started his chase with three Interceptor police cruisers on his tail. I heard over the radio other units in our path were scrambling toward I-20. They would wait at the various ramps for their chance to get involved. The rookie LEOs would say, “God please, please, please, come my way”. The O.G.s would stay in their zones and answer calls. Let the youngsters have it. Been there, got the ribbon. There comes a time when a LEO will realize that it ain’t worth it. After a few years on the roads, you will realize that you will not live forever.
(Back to the Van)
The chase car would be the first car behind the fleeing vehicle on its escape attempt. The chase deputy would be responsible for the arrest and subsequent charges. As lead car, my task was to concentrate on driving. The second car was responsible for radio locations, street names, direction of travel, etcetera. Other cars not in the pursuit were chattering away on the car-to-car channel. Pursuit positions could change during a pursuit. When a pursuing unit left its jurisdiction into another, a good radio operator would have already contacted the next jurisdiction, where their unit would be waiting at the county line. Their unit would take over as lead car. Each jurisdiction that was in our path would take over the pursuit in their jurisdiction and start tallying their citations. They take over because in a chase it’s good to know the trails you’re blazing. Their charges will be added to the driver’s tally from their jurisdiction. We were racing over 100 MPH towards the Chapel Hill Road exit. The Van then made a sudden half-sliding move onto the off-ramp at Chapel Hill. Now I would have to change my driving style/tactics on those 2-lane county roads. As I said, it was very early on a Sunday morning on a dark, curvy two-lane county road. The pursuit continued. The van was taking up the whole road in the curves, making the pursuit more dangerous to the motoring public. I did as I was taught, I slowed. That maneuver would allow my vehicle to fall back. With lights and sirens still going, I just fell back enough to keep him in sight. I dropped about four car lengths back instead of being on his ass. That was part of our training in pursuit tactics. If you sometimes back off a little, their aggressiveness may back off also. It worked very well in this case. I kept my distance, and he slowed his speed down. Hell, he even used his blinkers to turn onto Central Church Road. By now, all our speeds had been greatly reduced. I then returned to my position of grabbing his ass with a light and siren. We were now 45 to 50 MPH. He even slowed almost to a stop at the stop sign at Yancey Road. The chase deputy and supervisor had the responsibility to call off the chase if the conditions got too dangerous for us or the public. The second car would radio the conditions during the chase. I was the lead car still and chased him up Central Church Road to the intersection with Kings Highway.
At that point, it started to get interesting. The driver took a quick right turn towards Highway 5 and into the teeth of Lieutenant Starrett’s roadblock.