01x02 - Human Shield

[bunniefuu]

I have multiple shots fired

on the vehicle.

Man, is this really happening?

He's got nowhere to go.

What's gonna happen next?

We're in the golf course now.

Where's he headed to with those weapons?

Who's he gonna hurt?

To say he was driving erratically

would be an understatement.

I would compare it to Grand Theft

Auto. Kind of pissed me off.

You have 15 units surrounding you.

There's two people walking.

Suspect and a hostage.

Second female passenger

may have three g*nsh*t wounds.

I was in fear that she may pass away

right there in front of us.

g*n to head. g*n to head.

911, where's your emergency?

There's been a girl shot three times

here in Yeehaw Junction.

Curtis Kimbrough is the one who shot her.

Tell me exactly what happened now.

She was trying to get her car

or something and the guy shot her.

- Where's the suspect now, ma'am?

- He's at the house.

Units on scene, 34. I'm trying to

make contact at the house right now.

No one's answering the door.

Looks empty.

Just a few dogs inside.

If we can find out about the suspect,

if they could determine what they're

driving, what they're wearing.

Possibly a silver or blue Toyota Camry

is what we've been told

that the suspect left in.

It's gonna be a silver Toyota.

I was out patrolling the roads,

listening to my radio.

I heard that they were looking

for a subject out of Osceola County

by the name of Curtis Kimbrough.

I see the suspect in that vehicle.

Both females are the victims,

the male is the suspect.

Should be dark hair, tattoos,

a black and gray plaid shirt, button

down shirt with blue jeans.

Indian River County,

they got a hit on the vehicle.

It's northbound on the I-95.

Once we learned that the female

had possibly been shot,

I knew that I had to get to I-95

to assist.

I was scared for her safety.

- Channel 41.

- Channel two, we're on the county.

Agency assist, I-95,

in reference to a sh**ting.

Once I got on I-95, I know they were

traveling at a high rate of speed.

They were like 112 miles per hour.

Due to the speeds we were traveling,

we couldn't get officers in place

to deploy spike strips.

I'm a sergeant

at the Sebastian Police Department.

Because we are small,

the sergeant is the one

that's in charge of the entire shift.

Corporal Rivas is probably the most

capable police officer

I think I've ever met.

My thought process at that point was,

what can I do to support him?

Over here at the house

is getting text from ----.

Just advising that all three of them

are still in the vehicle

and it sounds like ---- may possibly

still be bleeding inside the vehicle.

I was approximately half a mile

behind the deputy,

and then he called a team cross-rated.

Hey, bud.

Just to let you know off your

scanner, we got shots fired at us.

We're off of Palm Bay Road. Had a

couple of shots fired out the window.

This guy is now sh**ting at cops.

I can't let this guy get away.

Traffic's picking up,

now he's on the shoulder passing

traffic on the right.

I knew at that point that I was going

to have to do something

that we normally don't do.

I made the decision to cross

over into incoming traffic.

In my 26 years in law enforcement,

I've only traveled

into oncoming traffic lanes twice,

and this was number two.

The likelihood of us getting into a

crash was very high.

He's cutting in and out of traffic,

and he showed no regards for anyone

that was on the road.

Fear for the hostages

as well as everyone else was great.

He got in the far right lane

and seemed to slow down.

I observed his hand come out

the driver side window

and he was holding a p*stol.

County 41, I have multiple shots

fired at my vehicle.

My number one fear was that

one of the vehicles or someone

innocent was going to get shot.

I just tried to stay far enough to

the right and behind his vehicle

where I wouldn't take a round

through the windshield.

I think it's the first time I've ever

been shot at during a pursuit.

I'm sure he was trying to scare me

away to get me to back off,

but it had the opposite effect.

It kind of pissed me off.

My main focus

was just to keep my firearm trained

on the vehicle, just in case.

The longer this pursuit continued,

the worse it got for us.

To say he was driving erratically

would be an understatement.

I would compare it to Grand Theft Auto.

He was weaving in and out of traffic,

cutting cars off,

coming close to striking vehicles.

He didn't even care about the people

that were around him.

The likelihood of us canceling

the pursuit was zero.

We could not let him get away.

Eastbound on Grant Road.

We came up to a dead end road.

He's going to a field night now.

I don't have a direction.

I pursued him

all the way around the property.

We drove around airplanes

and cars, you name it.

At that point,

Curtis crashed through a gate.

I confirm they are stuck in a sand

pit at Foley Land and Old Dixie.

The driver is brandishing a Signal Zero

and has fired at the deputies

on the roadway.

That's a game changer,

because now it's no longer

a mobile hostage rescue.

It is now stationary.

And there's techniques

that law enforcement can use

to help control that event.

Maybe three, two hostages and Curtis.

Curtis, you are completely surrounded.

You have multiple firearms pointed at

you. There is no way out.

Sergeant Lester was trying

to create a dialogue with Curtis.

Open the door with your hands up.

We got no response. None at all.

Curtis Kimbrough.

My name is Chris Weston.

We need you to exit the vehicle

calmly and with your hands up.

We do not need anybody else to get hurt.

Everything that you've done

to this point we can talk about.

We cannot let this situation escalate.

They went several minutes

without any kind of movement whatsoever.

Nothing's being said.

So it becomes a very eerie,

very eerie feeling.

- You got your 40?

- Start prepping the 40.

My main focus was just on the vehicle

and Curtis

and just keeping that vehicle

covered with my firearm.

- We need to get better coverage.

- Yeah.

- We do have a shield.

- I have one in the back of my truck.

Do you guys get EMS on standby?

I was very concerned and scared

at that moment

because I was anticipating him

jumping out of his vehicle

and continuing to sh**t at Corporal Rivas.

He's trying to get out.

Put your hands out the window, now!

This is Sergeant Lester of the Indian

River County Sheriff's Office,

you need to open the door, right now.

All occupants are still inside

of the vehicle.

We know he's armed.

We know he has two hostages.

We couldn't see in the car.

It had tinted windows.

We don't know whether they're dead,

bleeding out.

Star, how far are you?

Yeah, we're coming up on them.

We're about 4 miles away from the scene.

We're now on the way.

We're flying down there.

You listen to this craziness unfold,

and you're like, where is this

headed? How is this going to end?

In this particular case, equipment

became a huge factor for us.

We can call in a SWAT team.

We can use our resources.

They had multiple air assets at the

time. That's a game changer.

Now we can start putting things into

play to enact a hostage rescue.

You know, try to talk Curtis

out of the car,

try to get him to release the two

females that he had with him.

So things slowed down. Now he's--

We bought ourselves some time.

We can start using different options.

We can have SWAT teams come in.

We can get armor up, you know,

armored vehicles.

The helicopters are already up.

There are eyes in the sky.

We have to paint a picture for our

deputies on the ground, the officers,

as well as the supervisors

that are actually running this call.

They're in the blind, relying on what

we're able to tell them

and what we're able to see.

And we got to be on the ball

and make sure that, you know,

we have everything straight

and be able to do our job successfully.

We got movement

and contact inside the vehicle.

He's showing a g*n

out of the passenger door.

Put the g*n down

and come out with your hands up!

We didn't know

the condition of the hostages.

We want to render aid if they are injured.

We don't know if they're alive.

Curtis, you need to open the door.

You have 15 units with firearms

surrounding you.

Put your hands out the window!

- Behind you to the left.

- Okay.

We have multiple units

deploying sn*per teams.

I could hear them making plans.

They were asking for shields.

We were bringing up less lethal munitions.

One, so we could break out the back window

and see inside the vehicle.

Or if we need to use it to prevent Curtis

from getting away or stepping out

and sh**ting at us or whatnot,

we could deploy gas in the vehicle.

We didn't want to walk into an ambush.

There's several things that come

into play.

If we were to move up,

would that trigger Mr. Kimbrough

to sh**t the other hostage?

You know, so we didn't want

to escalate the situation.

We wanted to try and control it

as much as we could.

There's two sn*pers that were there

with the sheriff's department.

So they were making a plan

on cutting through the woods

to get a better angle at Curtis's vehicle.

We had rescue teams being set up

in case the hostages were released

or we need to go immediately up to

the vehicle to rescue the hostages.

So there was multiple things going on

behind me.

Sergeant Lester was trying to keep

that dialog or create a dialog.

Richie, you grab by bag,

my sn*per bag and throw it up here.

As we were making plans,

the back passenger rear door opened.

Whoever is opening that door,

put your hands out the window.

Caucasian subject sticking one hand

out the passenger front window.

We could see a female, looked like

she was trying to get out.

Both hands out the door.

- Should we get a spotlight on that?

- Yes.

Whoever is opening that door, hands out.

To Brevard, they're saying

that there's a female crawling out.

Yeah, I'm 10-12, I got eyes on her,

I'm trying to make contact.

Crawl out!

Crawl out of the vehicle.

g*nsh*t wound to her.

You can see that she was shot. You

see the blood soaked clothing.

She was definitely in pain.

Is there anybody else in the car

with you besides Curtis?

Yes.

You need to do the best you can

to crawl this way

so we can get you help.

Please start crawling.

She didn't have enough strength

to pull herself back to our cars.

She was in fear that she may die.

We can't approach the car.

He could just open the door

and sh**t her again,

or even sh**t the second hostage.

Ma'am, you need to do your best

to crawl this way.

I know you're in pain,

we're trying to help you.

You need to crawl this way.

If your arms are hurt,

get to your feet and run.

If your arms are hurt,

please get to your feet and run.

Is anybody on this side ready

to receive her?

Ma'am, my name is Chris.

I need you to get to your feet and run.

Curtis, we cannot come up there

with you sitting there.

You need to exit the vehicle,

let us take you into custody

and we can help her.

She is not looking good

from my vantage point.

We need to get her to an ambulance

as soon as possible.

I was in fear that she may pass away

right there in front of us.

You want to go up there.

Everything in your mind is telling

you to go forward.

She is no longer moving on the ground

and we need to get her assistance.

She had three g*nsh*t wounds.

I'm only going to give you a couple

of minutes, we got to get her.

We need you to open the door

and put your hands up.

Curtis, we have to help her.

We need you to exit the vehicle

with your hands up.

We seen the door open.

We see hands come out.

Hey, hold, that door's open!

Hands up, hands up!

He's got a g*n! g*n to head, g*n to

head! g*n to head.

They've got a hostage, male out of the car

with the female in front of him

as a shield.

So this is my first situation

where someone used somebody

as a human shield.

Man, is this really happening?

Right. Shield, shield.

Come on, we got to move.

No, hold it! Hold, hold, hold, hold!

Back up!

Shane, where you at with deployment?

He's deploying now.

Watch the crossfire.

475, sn*pers deploying to the east.

Lights off. Lights off.

Hold back, hold back.

Shane, you've got to shot now.

Shane, he's turned towards us.

- Who shot? Who shot?

- Shane. Shane.

When the sergeant fired a round,

I thought it was the end.

He's back up.

He's back up, up, up, up, up!

- Everybody hold. Everybody hold.

- Everybody hold.

Curtis, do not keep going back.

You're gonna lose him.

- Hawk, do you have eyes on?

- They fell into the bushline.

They, they fell into the bushline,

right where the light is.

We had a hostage rescue team

already in place.

Once we lost visual of Curtis,

officers and deputies did go up

to save the first hostage.

- What's the easiest way to get there?

- We gotta jump this fence.

I'm going to go under, hold the

shield, and we'll go get her.

Can we get one person

on either side please?

Somebody grab her.

10-4 we've got her

and we're bringing her back.

We'll get a couple of guys

to carry her out.

Hang on, we'll get you out of here, okay?

She has a wound here.

She's holding her abdomen.

I'm not sure.

Her bra is full of blood on the left side.

We need to confirm

that he has somebody still with him.

- Another hostage with him.

- Yes, he has somebody with him.

There's two people walking.

Suspect and a hostage.

Is the other one shot?

The other female?

- Huh?

- Shaking her head. Yes.

At this point it was dark.

We lost the majority of our light.

Hey, Shane, I got some night vision too.

I carry night vision goggles

as well as my r*fle is equipped

with infrared laser

which you can only see

through night vision.

We had three helicopters flying.

We could communicate with the helicopter

and he could direct us in the

direction where Curtis went.

Hank, where is he?

I get the suspect and the hostage in

my thermal imaging camera,

pretty much said to myself, okay,

it's go time.

All right, they're still westbound.

There's this ditch line with water

so we're gonna see which way they go.

He's kinda swinging his g*n

around wildly though,

kinda checking all around.

The biggest thing

that goes through my mind,

I'm gonna watch this woman get shot,

I'm gonna watch a deputy get shot.

He's at the ditchline now walking

northbound along this ditchline.

This is pitch black out there.

These deputies, they're relying on me

to be able to tell them

where these people are going.

All right, they've stopped

along the west end of the path.

- You got them in the light?

- Yeah, I got him.

They should be in the light.

Subject's kneeling down,

he's pointing the g*n to the east.

Okay, they're back walking again.

We've got a laser illuminator.

If there is night vision capabilities

on the ground,

well, they can see exactly

where the camera is looking as well.

Have him mark with the laser.

I see him.

He's about 100 yards out, guys.

I got him on night vision.

He's about a hundred yards out

by that tree line.

OK, just double check it.

Have him mark it with the laser.

It's like a pinpointer

where they're saying,

hey, he's right here.

And I started leading our team

towards that laser.

10-4, they moving towards the clearing?

They're moving northbound

to the far west of that field,

and then northbound behind these

houses along this ditchline here.

Okay, they're now headed south

across that field.

He's still got her as a hostage.

They're basically behind ----.

- ---, now walking slowly northbound.

You can have someone working on

getting a hold of those residents.

19, you want a mass notification out?

Just for that neighborhood.

Tell them to stay inside uptown.

There's some homes behind him.

We just didn't want him

to take more people hostage.

Or break into this house,

and now we have

another barricade situation.

They're more to the left of you,

guys, a little bit more to your--

You're kinda in generally lined up

in the area,

basically to the left of those woods.

Do you see where that wood fence is?

Follow that board fence to where it

intersects the woods. They're there.

I see him now.

He's out there by the wood line.

Hey, Shane. He's right at the wood

line.

- Hold on, you got him?

- I can see him.

They're hiding in the tree cover.

It's like an ambush.

We stopped at about 75 yards out.

We stood for less than a minute.

They are stopped.

He's got the g*n pointed your direction.

So I think he heard us talking.

If I can get an eye on him to where

I can see him, we'll take him out.

Let me and you go up there.

I got the shield, I can give you--

Shots fired. Hold the radio.

Is he now got this kind

of trapped rat syndrome going on

to where he's going to really go out

in a blaze of glory,

or he's going to k*ll the hostage,

sh**t deputies, k*ll himself?

When he fired the round,

we immediately just laid down

on the ground.

You could hear it as it whizzed past.

There was a little bit of fear there.

Yeah, but that's one of the things

you have to push down is,

we're going to catch this guy.

We're going to save this hostage.

We're laying on the ground.

I can still see, through my night

vision, the set of woods he's in.

The sn*per explained to me

that he didn't have a shot.

We couldn't find him in the scope.

The same spot.

Just for an update,

they're still in that same spot,

kind of bedded down in the woods.

Looking in that direction.

Looks like he's moving. I can't tell

if he's coming out a little bit.

Do you see?

Are they in the light?

Walking out.

He's walking out towards us. Hold.

We got to spread out.

Hold the line, spread out.

I see Curtis walking up

over the embankment in our direction.

The g*n is in his right hand

and he's dragging the female.

I figured this was going to be

where it all ends.

We got four or five long g*ns.

Walking towards you, guys.

Can you see them?

- Rich, you got eyes?

- Yep.

Me still looking through my night vision,

I had a shot where I could hit Curtis.

- You want me to take a shot?

- If you got it, take it.

- --- I can't get them. I had it.

Do you have eyeball?

We do, if you could get that light

directly on him

as soon as you can and hover it.

Star, we need that light on him.

Guys, I'm coming back around.

He's now turned

at a little bit of an angle.

Coming to the right,

to the right, to the right!

He's right there.

Watch your g*n, watch your g*n.

- Hold fire.

- Give her up to us.

Stand by guys, stand by.

Stand by, stand by! Stop, stop!

Shield, shield!

Hey, hold on, stand by,

he's moving, he's moving!

Move, move, move!

- He's down, hands on cuffs.

Kicked the g*n. -Get her out.

No, just leave it. Leave it!

Suspect down.

The hostage, she was screaming,

crying, scared out of her wits.

When you see somebody

who's in true terror,

that sticks with you.

Brian, give me an update on the

hostage and is the suspect secured?

The suspect is down

and in the process of being secured

and hostage appears to be at least

not significantly injured.

- Is he secured?

- Let's secure him anyway. -He's dead.

And I hear Corporal Revis' voice

come across the radio.

It was very calm.

Information.

Shots fired. I'm involved.

I need the sergeant to respond to me.

I wanted to check on him.

He's, you know, he's my brother.

I called him on the radio

and he actually tells me to call his wife

and just, you know,

"Hey, let her know that I'm okay."

- Everybody good?

- Everybody check yourselves.

- Anybody hurt?

- Nobody hurt, right?

You guys did a great job.

Absolutely a great job. Thank you.

You know, you guys are--

- Good job.

- Thank you.

A Cocoa Beach g*nman

who took two women hostage

and led law enforcement officers

on a multi-county chase

was shot dead by police early Sunday

in South Brevard County.

Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey

said in a Facebook video.

The suspect is dead, the victims are safe

and all of these men and women

that were involved are heroes.

They saved two lives tonight

and saved each other.

This pursuit with Curtis Kimbrough

was one of the most scariest pursuits

I've been involved in.

Once it was over, you know,

it was like the world

had been lifted off your shoulders.

It all kind of set in. I was like,

wow. And kind of deep breath.

That gets that heart rate down.

And on to the next one.

2630 North Main Tractor Supply

reporting a shoplifter.

Gonna be a male

with a shopping cart full of items.

She stated he's in

or near a gold four door car.

Okay, be en-route.

Dispatch notified the officer

in that district,

which happened to be Officer Sarah Berry.

Nothing about that call

showed any red flags

of anything other than a shoplifting.

413 Miami. Vehicle just almost hit

me.

I'll be behind it. Standby for tags.

The suspect tried to hit her.

Instantly, it changes your whole

feeling of the call.

That's one of your co-workers.

That's part of your family.

You ain't gonna hurt them.

We need to catch this guy.

I'm at a high rate of speed.

We're heading back north.

I was able to get behind Officer Berry.

Northbound A northeast.

Northbound, northbound.

We were within feet, for sure,

of that truck.

What's your speed?

About 50 right now.

It was obvious that this guy

was not going to stop.

Okay, what's your location now?

We're coming up on 22nd northbound.

Then you start to ask,

what's he running for and why?

It's not like they robbed a bank

or a jewelry store.

Miami PD's in pursuit, requesting

assistance in Commerce on Main.

Vehicle will be

a gold 2005 Toyota four-door.

Another officer called the store

and discovered that the items

he had stolen

consisted of a large machete,

several other smaller in length machetes,

several fixed blade knives,

and multiple pocket knives.

Where's he headed to with those weapons?

What's his plans if he gets away?

Who's he going to hurt?

All the officers that are hearing

that, it gets your adrenaline going.

309, I'm showing six minutes out.

This is serious,

and we need to get this guy caught.

Northbound, Main Street.

Northbound, Main Street.

All units, they're eastbound on 50

road from Main and Commerce.

Repeat, eastbound 50 road

from Main and Commerce.

We quickly made our way out of town.

Still eastbound.

Gonna be on the eastbound 59.

37K, I'm going to try to set up

stop-sticks at 90 road.

10-04 be advised going to try

to stop sticks at 90 road and 59A.

As we approached,

troopers were able to get set up.

All units southbound passing Buffalo

Run. Southbound from Buffalo Run.

He's missed stop sticks.

Now we're westbound,

90 road westbound, 90 road.

Well, it didn't work. Things you got

to think about at that point,

what tools do we have at our disposal

to handle the situation successfully

and safely?

Still westbound from Elm. We're going

northbound one block west of Elm.

I thought he was going to crash into them.

East on Lincoln. East on Lincoln!

We ended up right back

into some residential areas

and that's where people get hurt.

Going past the country club.

We're going back northbound.

Eastbound on Washington.

Ronnie, just drive. I'll call it.

Northbound McKinley from the Country Club.

Repeat, Northbound McKinley

from the Country Club.

Southbound, southbound.

Eastbound now on Yale. Eastbound

on Yale, it's going to be a dead-end.

He's got nowhere to go.

What's going to happen next?

I think he's gonna go through yards.

He's going through yards.

He's going through yards. 10-07.

Is this getting too dangerous?

How much harder can he run?

Eastbound, Harvard.

Eastbound, Harvard.

Eastbound, Harvard 10-07.

We're gonna go through a pasture or field.

I was just as shocked as everybody else.

It's a very uncommon place

to be in a pursuit.

We're gonna get stuck in this

pasture, through this farm field.

It was unbelievable the terrain

we were pursuing in.

Man, I drove that car hard.

But I just felt like if we could get

him to slow down,

the mud would stop the car.

You want to box him in or no?

4-13 to 5.-97. I'm going to be out of

it. I'm stuck in the field.

When Officer Berry got stuck

I lost the ----.

It was just one less car in the pursuit.

Go around him, Hoffer.

I was able to get up almost next to

him. I drew my duty g*n.

People are going to listen a little closer

when they've got a 9 mm pointed at them.

He just tried to side swipe

a Miami Nation unit.

Pointing my g*n at him. I was giving

him orders to stop the car.

Unfortunately,

the suspect was able to gain speed

and traction at that point.

Westbound. We're going to head

toward the golf course, guys.

Westbound the golf course.

Seeing a Toyota Camry

outrun a line of police cars

through a muddy field,

it's not something you expect to see

when you go into work that day.

We're in the golf course now.

I can't believe

that Camry made it through all that.

Nothing could stop this car.

Once he got out of the field,

it's just like a kick in the gut.

That was our chance to stop it

and it didn't happen.

We're gonna come back out on Yale.

Southbond, Princeton.

East. East on Harvard again.

Eastbound Harvard. 10-10.

We ended up right back

into some residential areas.

Still continuing westbound on Rockdale.

Westbound Rockdale, 10-11.

He drove with absolutely

no regard to human life.

It just crosses your mind

as you pass playgrounds

and you're looking for kids.

West on 4th Avenue.

West on 4th Avenue.

The longer a pursuit goes, you wonder

what's going to happen at the end.

North on Main, north on Main.

He crossed the center line.

There's just so many aggressive maneuvers.

There's a flat tire. A flat tire.

It's coming apart now. Northbound.

How much longer are we going to allow

this pursuit to continue?

- 12 let the Trooper go by?

- Yeah, let him finish it.

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol

is the only agency allowed

to perform a PIT maneuver.

The last tool in our toolbox.

It's very dangerous.

- 1-12 location?

- Southbound, East Street.

Keep going, keep going.

PIT maneuver! PIT maneuver!

It's a PIT stop!

10-21.

Put your hands behind your back!

- You got him?

- Yes.

If you know somebody's armed,

your senses are a little higher.

A man is in the Ottawa County jail tonight

after leading Miami police

on a more than 20-minute chase.

Officers say they were called

to reports of a

During the search

of the suspect's vehicle,

there were multiple tools

and large knives found.

What were his plans with those?

Was his intentions to harm somebody

with them?

Afterwards you have time to sit back

and just ponder on

how crazy that pursuit got.

It was one of the more intense

pursuits I've been in.

You're driving through a field.

Something that I will more than

likely never do again in my career.

It's just always a good outcome

when nobody gets hurt

and a bad guy goes to jail.

It was a good, long fight, and we won.