Cop’s Epic PIT Maneuver Brings Los Angeles Police Chase to Dramatic End
The suspect led LA’s finest on a 45-minute-long pursuit, stopping several times to taunt police and shake hands of onlookers.
If World’s Wildest Police Videos was still airing with former sheriff John Bunnell presenting, this latest chase through Los Angeles would surely make the cut. LA is known as the high-speed police chase capital of the world, where they are pretty much a daily occurrence. This one, however, came to a really dramatic end thanks to LA’s finest and its perfection of the famous PIT maneuver.
The PIT maneuver, or Pursuit Intervention Technique, also known as the Pursuit Immobilization Technique, among other terminologies, describes the use of force by a squad car utilizing its push bar to ram a suspect’s vehicle at a low speed to bring the car to a stop in the safest way possible. This could mean nudging the car at one of the rear-three-quarter sections to cause the suspect vehicle to spin out, or like in this chase, t-boning the car until it’s disabled. At that point, it’s within police training protocol to then box the vehicle in to prevent the suspect from driving off and escaping.
Local news outlets reported that a stolen SUV led police on a long-winded chase through the City of Angels, Thursday afternoon. During the pursuit, the driver reportedly taunted the police on numerous occasions, stopped on the 110 Freeway several times, and then drove off before authorities could apprehend him.
As the chase continued, the shirtless man repeated this move while approaching the 10 Freeway and reportedly flipped the bird to the police before then continuing the chase on the 110. With the police at a distance, others reported that the driver pulled over to shake hands with innocent onlookers, before driving off at the police's arrival.
To try and finally bring the chase to an end, Los Angeles police threw a spike strip in front of the stolen Kia. The driver ran over the strip but then proceeded to drive in circles trying to rid the Kia of the stuck strips after it wedged itself under the car.
Shortly afterwards, one officer decided to make the final PIT maneuver, t-boning the Kia Sportage SUV and pushing it in a full 360-degree turn, rubbing it against the curb before colliding with a parked Lincoln Navigator, bringing the pursuit to an end.
As the Sportage came to a halt, reinforcements converged onto the damaged Kia with officers exiting squad cars, guns drawn. The suspect, who didn’t appear injured, surrendered without further altercation and was transported to a local hospital. His name has not been released.
