02x10 - Interstate Inferno

[bunniefuu]

Harford County, 911.

A military truck

just completely destroyed my car.

Get out of the road.

If an officer was hit by that vehicle

I'm pretty it's instant death.

He has a g*n. He has a r*fle guys.

He seemed like he was ready for a fight.

Oh, ♪♪♪♪!

I was thinking, "Game on."

No, no, no.

We got a car on fire! ♪♪♪♪

The pursuit that ended in a massive

fire along I-5 in Tacoma started

in Orangegate Park in Pierce County.

Detectives say Tipa came out

of the woods with a handgun,

demanding a woman give up her keys,

phone, and purse.

That morning, I was driving around,

patrolling around my area,

when the tone came out

and it was an armed robbery

in my district at Orangegate Park.

The victim was saying

that she was robbed at gunpoint,

her car was taken,

her wallet was taken

and her cellphone was taken.

She was scared. You could tell,

when she was talking to us,

that a traumatic thing has happened

to her.

As I was canvassing the parking lot,

I noticed the victim's vehicle.

The parking lot was full in this

particular area where we're at.

We're near a main entry and exit,

so we have cars coming in and out,

but we wanted

to not let the suspect get away.

The suspect started getting frantic

and reaching all over the car.

We didn't know if he was reaching

for a weapon,

if he was trying to get the car in gear,

or just what,

he just started panicking inside.

Show us your hands! Do it now!

Crossfire.

Hands up, hands up. Hands up.

Watch out, watch out.

Pursuing a suspect

through a busy lot is not ideal.

It presents safety concerns

for the citizens, ourselves.

His speeds were really fast.

My speeds had to be faster to try

to get caught up to him.

At least get an eye on him.

This was a violent crime and we did

not want him to be a potential threat

to the public any longer.

We're going westbound on 320th South.

Federal Way in the middle of the daytime

was much busier than I anticipated.

He's showing reckless regard

to public safety,

weaving in and out of lanes,

going head-on with other vehicles

and trying to create as much

chaos as he can possibly create.

Deputy Alvarez and I started

following behind the marked units

that were now in pursuit

of the suspect in the stolen vehicle.

We were driving his unmarked vehicle

that didn't have lights or a siren.

There's gonna be a tall male

and a female passenger.

He puts his passenger

at a very high risk of being k*lled

driving in the manor he was.

Was this passenger there freely

or are they there against their will,

they can't get out of the vehicle

at this point.

The suspect displayed total disregard

to public safety.

He was traveling at very fast

speeds, running red light.

He hit the side mirror of a car

at the intersection of

First Ave South and 320th.

The Federal Way unit is going to be

the number one now. I'm two.

I was concerned for my partners

that were chasing him.

It's possible that they could crash,

or the suspect could crash into a citizen

or somebody walking down the street.

I would have given anything

to be either driving

or in the passenger seat

of either of those marked vehicles.

The Federal Way Officer pulled

off to the side,

allowing myself and my partner

to become the number one

and number two units in the pursuit.

Looks like we're going to be going

westbound on 356th.

When you come into an intersection

like we were coming into,

braking is extremely dangerous.

The slightest movement of the

steering wheel is very dangerous.

I was hoping that he would get

blocked in, come to a stop,

enough to where we can actually

get out and try to pin him in again,

but that wasn't the case.

There's no shoulders,

there's no sidewalks.

It's people's yards.

There's different types of dangers

now, different types of concerns.

Trying to keep up with

the suspect posed a lot of risks.

We had to drive really fast

to keep up with him.

His bumper hits the road

and gets peeled off

and so now, it's just a flapping bumper,

which presents another level

of uncertainty and danger.

I thought, "Okay, he's done."

He's now losing parts of the car.

I felt that if I went ahead

and attempted the PI

and pushed him and spun him around,

that me and my partner would be able

to pinch it in.

He blocked me from doing a PIT.

As I started to make my maneuver

and increased my speed,

he maneuvered over to the left,

centering his car

in the middle of the road,

blocking any attempt

that I could have at a PIT.

Come on.

Give me something to work with here.

I was thinking,

"This isn't his first rodeo.

He knows how to prevent a PI

from occurring."

He had cut the corner

so sharp and so much that,

if that truck was going any faster,

or the suspect had made

that move any later,

there would have been head-on

accident in that corner.

We were starting to approach an area

called Pacific Highway

and that is more urban,

there's more business,

there's more big rig travel,

more citizens.

Where is he trying to go?

What's his end motive?

What's gonna get this guy to stop?

The suspect doesn't even slow down,

just blazes right through

the intersection.

He didn't care about anybody's safety.

He didn't care about himself,

his passenger.

He didn't care about citizens that he

was approaching or encroaching.

He had zero regard for any life.

Pacific Highway South 99.

I joined the department

just to get bad guys off the street,

and I was extremely happy to hear that,

once the pursuit was coming down

towards me,

I was able to get into it.

Southbound, light traffic.

I was thinking,

"All right, game on. Let's go."

As soon as we got on I-5, the suspect

quickly merged onto the carpool lane.

The bad thing is that there was a lot

of cars in the carpool lane that day.

Your senses do start to sharpen.

I got a lot of vehicles going

a lot slower than we are.

We don't know what they're gonna do,

how they're gonna react.

The rear tire was flat,

it was driving on its rim.

It would take one little mistake

for a catastrophe to happen.

He's about to lose his rear passenger

tire. It's off the rim.

Be careful.

All right, looks like

he might be taking exit 133.

As soon as he approached the exit ramp,

he would quickly merge back onto the I-5,

trying to trick us into going to the ramp.

We're working our way back over

to the carpool lane now.

Everybody we're still southbound.

We got a lot of tire flying

in our direction.

He lost a tire, watch it, he's on rim.

At those speeds,

if the tire hits a windshield,

it's gonna shatter the windshield.

I looked up, saw the median

and that freaked me out.

Oh, sh*t. ♪♪♪me!

The suspect had no regards

for other human life.

I mean, in the vehicle with him

was another passenger

and he still drove recklessly

with her in the car,

trying to get away from us.

The suspect could have easily

hit three, four, five vehicle

as he was going across.

You're traveling

sometimes 30 to 50 miles an hour

faster than traffic

that you're going with,

so the consequences could be fatal.

The suspect had made a couple

of quick maneuvers

and into some gaps in the traffic.

I was pretty certain I was gonna

be able to make those same gaps.

No, no, no

When I got pinched in between

the vehicles, I was frustrated,

because I thought I'd lost the

opportunity to capture this guy.

Luckily, the number two car stepped

up and took me out of the pursuit.

He wasn't gonna go somewhere

and just stop.

He was gonna continue to drive

until we either terminated the pursuit

or we, ourselves, were in an accident.

Our only priority was to stop him.

Still southbound. Medium traffic.

Speeds of 62.

Went for a PIT. Car wrecked out.

Get it blocked in.

Car wrecked out

He's running!

I was like, "Yeah, he's mine.

I'm gonna get him."

After the armed robbery,

we knew that he was armed

and he might pull out the firearm.

As soon as I got closer to him,

I couldn't see his hands.

Police, get on the ground!

You're gonna get shot! You're gonna

get shot! You're gonna get shot!

Get on the ground!

Move your hands, move your hands!

Give us your hands!

I didn't see the g*n.

I don't know where the g*n went.

I wasn't sure if the g*n was in the

waistband

so getting a hold of his arms

and detaining him right away

was our priority.

I was thankful that none

of us got hurt, none of us got shot.

Stand up.

Fire priority. We got a car on fire.

As we're escorting the suspect

back to our patrol vehicles,

I look up and the grass around

our vehicles had caught on fire.

We have another person,

the female's in the car.

There's a girl in there!

My fear was that we'll have somebody

in the car that is unable to escape.

Get out, come on!

I thought, we were going

to listen to her burn to death.

Stand up.

Is it just you in there?

Is it just you?

- She's the only one we saw.

- Get her away, get her away.

It was real smoky.

We were stepping over fire.

I could not see inside the vehicle.

She was seconds away from us

not being able to get to that car

to open the door for her to escape.

It's a pretty chaotic scene.

We had a huge pileup of traffic on I-5

and there's a bunch of emergency vehicle,

police vehicles, fire department vehicles,

you know, helicopters in the air.

Cop car's burning.

I think they might have gotten

somebody out. There was screaming.

Got the freeway blocked.

Avoid I-5 Tacoma right now.

Just avoid it.

We had a row of people the other side

of the fence,

just watching what was unfolding.

- Bro, I'm good bro.

- Nice catch, you guys.

Pierce County Prosecutors say

Randy Tipa was previously charged

for stealing cars, identities,

even alluding officers before.

The next case before the court

is State versus Randy Tipa.

Get out, come on!

I was happy that none of us got hurt.

I was happy that we all took care

of the situation.

It was a crazy call and our deputies

handled it fantastically.

I was ecstatic.

Getting the closure

of him being sentenced,

that's what we do this job for.

Just about 7:00 pm,

when we got a call of a disturbance

at a gas station.

Dispatch had stated that a male

subject had swung a fist at a female,

and that the male had left the gas station

and was traveling away from there.

The deputy located the suspect's van

at a second gas station.

- How are you? What's going on?

- I'm not good today.

Need gas in my van

and they're not giving me any gas.

- Okay. Who's not giving you your gas?

- What?

Who's not giving you your gas?

These gas stations,

that gas station back there.

I told them who I am the Ryan God.

I need my ♪♪♪gas.

And they'd not give me my pump.

She's telling me I got to pay

for my own gas.

- You do have to pay for your gas.

- I am God. This is my ♪♪♪setup.

- I am the one that replenishes this!

- Relax, okay?

You don't even know where it comes from.

Relax, okay?

You don't need to yell at me.

You told me I'm not ♪♪♪God.

You know I'm God.

The driver identified himself

as God the Ryan and said he was upset

that the other fuel station refused

to give him his gas because he was God.

The suspect started to get agitated.

Okay, relax right now.

What are you grabbing that taser for?

- Get down on the ground.

- You're telling God to get down?

3-2-7, I've got one at taser-point.

Step it up.

Step it up means the person they're

dealing with is becoming aggressive.

So I activated my lights and sirens

in order to get their quickly.

Don't go in your van!

Get down on the ground now.

Get down on the ground.

3-2-7, he keeps avoiding me

and is running around his van

saying he's God.

Stay out of the van now.

I'm gonna tell you to stop

and lay down on the ground.

Yes. You need to lay down.

Get down on the ground.

I wanna work with you,

but you gotta work with me.

- You said I'm not God.

- You're not God.

- I am God.

- You're not God.

- You need to lay down on the ground.

- I ain't lying on the ground.

I'm gonna ask you you one more

time to lay down on the ground.

You been drinking alcohol,

or anything, today?

Get down on the ground,

I'm not gonna ask you again.

Get down on the ground.

I'm not going to ask you again.

I observed the male with his arms

at his side

and his fists clenched

in an aggressive manner.

You're not even a real police officer.

I'm not?

- No, who the ♪♪♪♪?

- Get on the ground.

Deputy discharged his taser

which had no effect.

- Get out of the car now!

- No.

Get out of the car!

Get out of the car now!

I'm gonna pull in front of him.

It was blatantly obvious to me,

the male

was clearly a danger to the public.

Oh, damn, dude.

The male was clearly in a state of mind

that was not safe for him

to be on the roadway.

He had the potential of using his vehicle

as a weapon to hurt someone.

I was able to cut

across the parking lot to an exit.

When the suspect vehicle and the deputy

and detective vehicle passed

in front of me,

they were doing approximately

30 miles an hour.

My vehicle is larger and faster

to it being a pursuit rated vehicle.

I passed the first deputy and detective

in order to get myself in position

behind the van,

in case I needed to conduct

a PIT maneuver.

I observed the regular traffic moving

to the right side of the road

and I observed the van start to swerve

towards some of those vehicles

that were parked, or stopped

on that side of the road.

As we continued north on Hitt Road,

it appeared to me that the suspect vehicle

was going to attempt to pull

into the Walmart parking lot.

He had just drove through a parking lot

full of people, putting them at danger.

My concern was is that

he'd be willing to do it again

by going into the Walmart parking lot

which had a lot of customers.

And that's when I decided

that I needed to stop that vehicle

from entering the parking lot.

My concern was he was going to hit

and injure or k*ll somebody,

if we didn't get him stopped.

I expected the van to have

stalled out due to the PIT maneuver.

I went closer to the van to block it in.

The male in the van drove head-on

into my car.

He just hit my car.

I heard the metal crunching and bending.

I thought,

"Okay, I'm out of the pursuit."

As I turned to face southbound

I saw the first deputy attempt

to ram the van.

Okay, we've got a failed PIT and one ram.

I was confident he was going to do

anything he could

to avoid being arrested.

Yeah, get ♪♪♪♪.

I thought that second PIT was the PI

that was gonna stop that van

from going any further.

I just decided that it didn't matter

what shape my car was in,

that I needed to stop this guy

and I figured I'll go until my car

won't let me go anymore.

Okay, he's at 55.

He's got several tires down,

blowing stop lights.

He ran two red lights,

which puts everybody at danger.

Okay, we got a right rear tire

totally down.

He's still northbound,

speeds at 48 miles per hour.

We need to get the roundabout

shut down, he's gonna hit somebody.

I knew I had to pass the suspect

to stop traffic,

so nobody got injured.

I observed a grassy area

so I positioned my patrol car in order

to be able to conduct a PIT maneuver

that would push that van, once it

spun around, off into the dirt.

He was still trying to accelerate to

get away, so I hit him with my car.

Get out of the car!

He was reaching for something in the car.

Usually when someone's reaching,

they're reaching for a g*n.

He's got a samurai sword in his hand.

Drop the knife!

He was not running away.

He seemed like he was ready for a fight.

Like, he was ready to use the weapon.

In my mind,

he was probably going to charge us

and we were going to be forced

to sh**t him,

which is, obviously,

not what we want to do.

The police officer attempted

to deploy a taser, and missed.

I watched the suspect start to move

towards the Costco.

I was concerned

that if he made it to the Costco,

he would then take a hostage

or begin to injure somebody.

I needed to deploy something else

to get him stopped.

Stop or I'll send out the dog!

We need someone to get and block

southbound Hitt by Costco.

Vooruit! Vooruit!

Axle is never gonna quit.

He loves finding drugs

and he loves biting bad guys.

- Drop the blade!

- Drop it now!

All right, all right, all right, stop.

I'm crossing you.

I'm behind you, behind you.

- Get the dog off me.

- Let go!

- I'm not holding.

- Let go of your hands.

You see what we went through?

How many people's live you put in danger?

- I'm God.

- We won't take those handcuffs off.

I'm the Ryan from LCJ.

The one that's been talking to you.

The one from the heavens.

I'm the angel Ryan.

The one that went to tell you

that he's ♪♪♪actually God.

The suspect was transported

to the Emergency Room

to get the bite wounds tended to,

and then transported to jail.

In this instance, the male was having

some mental health issues.

He still believed he was God.

It made me realize

just how dangerous he was.

If we'd let him drive away,

he very easily could have k*lled

or seriously injured innocent people.

Harford County, 911. What is the

location of your emergency?

Somebody just stole my vehicle

out of my driveway

while I was watching him.

He's heading towards town of Bel Air.

He's in a military 5-ton.

I tried to stop him,

he tried to run me over.

- I need suspect's description.

- Tall, skinny, tattoos.

I'm guessing,

I don't know where he came from.

I live right up the street

from the detention center

and I'm wondering if he was just released.

Suspect's gonna be on Main Street

headed into Bel Air town.

It's gonna be a 5-ton truck,

military green.

Around 6:45, I heard the call

for the stolen military style truck.

Stealing a vehicle doesn't sound too bad

but when you steal a military

5-ton vehicle,

be like this guy definitely

ill intentions.

Units, reference the vehicle theft.

Detention center just released

someone matching this description.

When leaving the detention center,

the subject advised the staff

quote "I'll see you later."

The name that Dispatch had given

was Michael Stevens.

I don't know if this guy

wants to k*ll people, himself,

if he's armed, if he has weapons on board.

Somebody like that, he probably

willing to do just about anything.

- Harford County, 911.

- We just witnessed a hit-and-run.

A ex-military convoy just took

someone's door off.

Based off the nature of the calls

we were getting,

he was intentionally striking vehicles.

Harford County, 911.

There's a man in, like,

a military type truck

that just completely destroyed my car.

Michael Stevens was leaving a trail

of destruction through the city.

Morning of May 12 was my last day

of field training.

I was with my field trainer, DFC Keller.

Which way did he go, which way?

This guy was using this vehicle

as a battering ram.

He was rolling over vehicles,

as if it was, like, a monster truck.

He went that way.

I felt pretty confident

that he was gonna be close to us

based off the trail of destruction.

- The suspect lives at--

- He's right here, coming towards us.

Did you advise he's coming toward you?

- We got it at Tollgate.

- Southbound and Kentmore.

10-4, Tollgate and Kentmore.

As he passes, he looked directly at me.

He seemed to be not mentally there.

I knew that that vehicle

had already hit multiple vehicles.

To be honest with you, I don't even

remember seeing a scratch on it.

My initial thought was, how are we

gonna get this vehicle stopped?

Because if he didn't wanna stop

and he had enough gas,

he was gonna run over everything

in his way.

I'm stationary on 152 and 95.

In case he takes the tamp from 152.

I'm taking the ramp onto 95 south.

Be advised,

he's getting on the ramp 95 south.

We're lane two, 95 south.

DFC Keller and I were sitting on

152 right by the 95 entrance.

We heard that DFC Distance

had found the vehicle.

My heart was beating very fast,

as this was my first big chase.

A 55 mile an hour max speed truck could

cause some significant damage

on the highway.

Can everybody that's behind

let's try and slow the traffic.

I don't want this vehicle

to hit anybody else.

We were able to create a rolling roadblock

to slow the traffic down

coming up behind us.

It was, without a doubt in my mind,

that he would ram whatever car got

in front of him.

10-4, anybody have stop sticks

in the area?

None of our training taught us

how to stop a military vehicle.

My brother-in-law, he's in the

Military, he was a truck driver.

There's things called run flats

on the tires,

it's just something that the Military uses

to avoid the tires from popping.

You know, you can't do a PIT maneuver,

it would do more damage

to our vehicles than to the truck.

We're coming up on the stop sticks.

For us to try to stop that vehicle,

depending on how fast it goes,

there's a lot of risks.

- He's in lane one.

- 10-4, lane one.

Looks like we got one tire potentially.

He hit the stop sticks

and I noticed that it did not have

any effect on the vehicle at all.

We got another set of stop sticks

being deployed once we get to Bradshaw.

I was very nervous to deploy the

stop sticks

since it was my first time.

There wasn't a barrier, or anything,

stopping the vehicle from hitting us.

Still 55, lane one, no traffic.

55 miles an hour, no traffic, lane one.

There was a cord malfunction

on the stop sticks.

It couldn't extend fully.

So, DFC Keller, he was just stuck

in the middle of the road.

You this military truck coming at you.

I thought,

"this vehicle's gonna hit us."

If a officer is hit by that vehicle

at 55 miles an hour,

I'm pretty sure

that's gonna be instant death.

Direct stop sticks were not effective.

Car 99, can you get ahead

with another set of stop sticks?

Let's try to get two cars ahead,

so we can take the entire length of 95,

so he can't avoid them.

Be careful with those stop sticks.

When he saw the officer on the side

of the road,

he started driving his vehicle

towards him.

He's coming over in the lanes.

Watch yourself.

Hey, just be ready to jump

if he comes at us.

Watch yourself, he might try and hit you.

Get out of the road!

I would consider him homicidal

at that point.

If you're driving a vehicle

of that nature directly at a officer,

I believe that your intent

is to k*ll them.

Missed stop sticks, missed stop sticks.

He definitely hit the first pair

of stop sticks. I witnessed it.

Do you believe

he did hit your stop sticks?

The first set. But all six

tires appear to be functional.

The consensus was that the spikes

were not gonna work on this vehicle.

The tires that are on that vehicle

are a lot heavier duty

that's on a passenger car.

They'll probably run over a nail

and bend the nail.

As we get closer to Baltimore,

he took the toll road of 95,

which has a concrete barrier.

All units, he's crossed over local,

crossed over local at 65 over nine.

Seems like a last ditch effort

to lose the police.

But we had Harford County Sheriff's

Office, Maryland State Police,

Baltimore City Police, with over 20 cars,

you're not gonna lose the Police.

But we still asked for assistance

from Baltimore City's

Aviation Unit, as well.

All right, this is Foxtrot,

I'm at 95 and 695.

- Where you guys at?

- We're directly behind you.

Foxtrot to all units and

jurisdictions, we got the eyeball.

If you guys want to fall back

and try to stop the traffic ahead of it,

we do have the eyeball.

We got a eye in the sky now, we can

follow it from a safe distance.

All units let's shut down

emergency response

and let Foxtrot do its job.

Shut down emergency response,

let Foxtrot do its job.

Occupied one time.

This guy, he has a g*n.

He has a r*fle guys, be cautious.

He's holding a r*fle

out of the driver's window here.

He's got a weapon, on top of a 5-ton truck

and going into Baltimore City

that's heavily populated.

We gotta put an end to this.

And by end it, I mean by any means

possible at this point.

Looks like he's gonna get off at the city.

Once we got into the city,

the suspect was getting tied up

in traffic.

Some of the streets in Baltimore City,

you can barely fit a car down,

let alone a military truck.

He's taken a side street, Roberts Place.

The truck cannot make that turn.

I was thinking, "Man, this guy has a g*n

and there's a lot of civilians

right here."

He's getting out, he's getting out!

He's running. The truck is in drive.

Suspect is running down the alley.

White male.

Suspect's running down the alley.

Go, go, go!

White male, white shoes,

black shorts, black shirt.

He's reaching. Watch him.

- I got you, I got you! Hands, hands!

- He's reaching, he's reaching.

He looks directly at me,

lifts his shirt up,

reaches into his front waistband

and runs directly towards me.

I got you, I got you. Hands, hands!

Get on the ground, get on the ground!

Get on the ground, get on the ground!

- I got his hands.

- Stop reaching!

Stand up, stand up.

Let's get him to a car.

I mean, I'm just wondering about,

did he pitch anything?

Was there any r*fle in the truck?

I looked real quick.

I didn't see anything.

- No r*fle? Okay.

- I didn't see it.

When they searched the vehicle,

there was a metal pole with a strap on it.

It resembles a r*fle.

With an update to a wild story

that stretched across three counties

last night,

the Harford County Sheriff's Office

now says a man

who allegedly stole a

military vehicle out of Bel Air

had just been let out of jail

before taking the truck

on a run from the law.

The deputies say several cars were

damaged over the course of the chase.

It was a relief that 5 ton truck

didn't k*ll anybody.

There was a time, during pursuit,

where I was like,

"This is gonna end with somebody

being seriously injured or k*lled."

I think God was on our side.

God was with us.