Over the past several decades, law enforcement tactical squads have outfitted themselves with bigger and badder vehicles in hopes of avoiding and/or more easily ending standoffs with potentially dangerous criminals. But one California SWAT team learned the hard way that no matter how big, how bad, or how intimidatingly painted your truck may be, there’s always somebody out there rocking something bigger—in this case, the tractor half of a tractor trailer.
This Orange County chase played out over nearly an hour on Wednesday as police attempted to stop two men as they fled in what appears to be an International LT cab. Late in the pursuit, the duo slows down to grab something resembling a key fob or thumb drive from the roof of what appears to be a street-parked Hyundai Tucson. The police take advantage of the slowdown to make their move. Here’s a shorter version of the video below that starts at the juicy part.
Now ahead of the semi tractor, the SWAT truck makes a run at the side of the cab as the duo pulls into a parking lot. The hit iss hard enough to break the semi’s tires loose, pushing it sideways into the rear end of a parked SUV. Kudos to the Pacifica driver for using the parking brake, but it only holds for about a half a second. Despite the force of the blow, the tractor simply shrugs it off and—forgive me—keeps on truckin’.
FULL CHASE: CHP is chasing a suspect in a stolen semi-truck in Orange County
If you look closely, though, something is damaged by the impact. As the semi pulls away from the SWAT truck, you can see fluid draining onto its tires, leaving behind a wet spot on the road surface. This suggests that the impact punctured one of the International’s outboard fuel tanks. After the truck returns to the surface street, you can see it drop more fuel intermittently as the occupants continue to flee.
Fortunately and/or sadly, depending on how you look at it, the chase ends far less dramatically than this incident would suggest. Just five minutes later, the duo find themselves boxed in by police at a busy intersection. With nowhere to go, they surrender peacefully.
This isn’t even top five in the weirdest police chases we’ve seen recently, but hey, it’s not every day you get to see one of those baby personnel carriers bounce off its intended target. Enjoy it while you can.
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