High Speed Chase (2023) s02e03 Episode Script

1
This match we're going
through, we're staying straight,
we're going a hundred miles an hour.
This car is in our city.
Your adrenaline is just
absolutely through the roof.
When you're talking about
a Fast and Furious movie
I need a 10-52.
In my mind, I was ready for a shootout.
We are eastbound.
via Graceland.
He's got a out-of-state 28.
We'll stop here at the green exit.
He took off when I started walking
up. We're getting off onto 27.
He's making a left onto 27 northbound.
He is going on I20 eastbound,
If you can get them here,
they are already on stand by.
The city of Villa Rica is about 13
miles from the initial stop location.
And at that time, I sent my
officers down to the exit ramps
to see how we could
intervene or help the trooper.
Wait for the track to ease up a little bit
before it's going to be it.
I'll probably get more here.
10-4, PIT.
He got him back on the road.
All right, shots fired.
Shots fired with an AK.
An AK-47 is essentially a .30 caliber
weapon that can do a lot of damage.
It can disable vehicles.
It can go through soft armor.
It's nothing you
really want to tangle with.
The shots ricochet off the hood
and into the engine block
of Trooper Pruitt's patrol vehicle,
as well as into his windshield.
The suspects had every opportunity
to disengage
and essentially just get away,
but they didn't.
Shots fired. Standby. Shots fired.
Shoot at me with an AK.
All right, he's a shot in the motor out.
He's in a Nissan heading eastbound.
Trooper Pruitt used to work with us
at Carrollton Police Department.
We're family. I mean,
we're like brothers.
I'd been a corporal of maybe two years,
and I had around seven to eight
guys on night shift at that time.
Although our shift had worked
multiple shootings over the years,
we have not had
an officer-involved shooting,
nor have we had any of us shot at.
We had no idea where the vehicle was.
We don't know
that it's coming to Carrollton.
It could go to several
other cities around us.
We knew that we had a temporary plate
that was a dealership,
possibly in Alabama,
that began with a B.
And that's what we were looking for.
A lot of the guys
on shift at this time were young.
If this does go bad,
are they ready for it?
I took US-27 at Columbia Drive.
Once I got there, I turned all
my headlights, interior lights,
everything off,
because I didn't want to be seen.
I was hoping to see
that car before that car saw me.
And I'm antsy, but I'm also confident.
It's a very similar feeling
to sitting in the locker room.
Like you know you're about to go to war,
but at the same time, you don't
know what it's going to be like.
I knew we were looking for a Sedan.
I knew we were looking for an Alabama tag.
If I encounter this car,
what am I going to do?
What actions am I gonna take?
Every time I saw headlights,
it was like your heart
starts beating a little bit faster.
Then you see the car drive in
front of you, and it's not the car.
And you just take that big,
deep breath. Okay.
I had one of my officers
viewing our traffic cameras
across the city to make
sure we didn't miss the vehicle.
He was able to find what
he believed to be that vehicle.
This car's in our city.
Your adrenaline is just
absolutely through the roof.
It's just an immediate adrenaline dump.
You know, your heart starts
racing, and it's go time.
Maybe the vehicle's going
to attempt to get back
to the nearest interstate.
So I drove, trying to cut the vehicle off.
I was seeing a group of cars.
I noticed one of the vehicles
kind of make a sudden turn.
I turned my spotlight on,
pointing directly at the tag,
just trying to verify.
I realized these are the guys
that shot at Trooper Pruitt.
- Coming up now on your right.
- Alright, be smart.
There is our spot, two blocks
Sergeant Rob Holloway was my supervisor,
and he was calling out
and transmitting
all radio traffic on my behalf.
6-6, back off of them,
back off, let's see what they do.
Dispatch, we're right here
going 69 miles an hour,
waiting to see what we do.
We're turning right on Bankhead Highway.
All right, get me some people up here.
Let's get ready to do a felony stop.
If not, we will PIT.
It was a million feelings
rushing through my body.
The driver is driving at speeds
triple or more of the speed limit.
They have total disregard for human life.
In my mind, I'm willing to give up mine
if I need to get in this pursuit.
The suspect began firing
a volley of shots at me.
I think my chest
was beating out of my vest.
This doesn't make sense.
This doesn't happen in Carrollton.
When you're talking about
a Fast and Furious movie
All right, back off. We're
going to follow at this distance.
Dispatch, we're going 60 miles an hour.
Bankhead Highway,
we're passing Barnes Store.
Get Villa Rica set up.
Spikes at Bay Springs.
The spike strip essentially
would deflate the vehicle's tires.
The vehicle would have no option
but to come to a complete stop.
Let's make sure we're
backed off just enough, okay?
Dispatch, we are going about 90 miles now.
We are coming up on Old Airport Road.
Where am I at in this lineup? We
know Corporal Cheatwood is first.
Sergeant Holloway is going to be second.
He's calling out that chase,
and we're behind him.
We're still an eighth mile
behind the chase.
10-4, we good. I see him.
I make it to the intersection
with Officer Brice,
and I swear, Brice, I swear he cut me off.
I don't know where
he was at, but I might have
I know I dusted him.
I know that much.
Dispatch, we're coming through.
We're staying straight.
We're going a hundred
miles an hour, dispatch.
Me and Officer Brice
are just trying to close distance
so there's enough support.
So, Cheatwood and Holloway
wouldn't necessarily be alone.
Creating space between that suspect
and myself was important to survival.
The AK-47 they were using would
easily penetrate our body armor.
I need to know how far
Villa Rica's gonna be
before they go down on spike.
We're about to be coming up on Triangle,
they're hitting their brakes.
We'll see what they are about to do.
As we were approaching the triangle,
in my mind, I was ready for a shootout.
As rounds started being fired
Rob's vehicle drifted into my lane.
I had to put my brakes on
to keep from just our cars
rubbing against one another.
I thought maybe they had shot
his tire and blew a tire out.
I saw sparks flying everywhere.
I saw Rob hit
a light pole at a rapid speed.
Rob. Rob.
I need a fucking 10-52
just up from the triangle.
I need a 10-52!
West Georgia Auto Transmission.
City officer unresponsive.
Driver's seat. Head on collision.
I began to shake Rob.
I saw blood dripping down
the front of his vest.
I see one single bullet hole through
his windshield at head level.
And I knew he had been shot in the head.
No!
- Hey, hey!
- I see it. I see it.
Somebody yells, "They're power lines.
Don't touch them,
they're power lines."
So, I have to go
a little east of Rob's car,
jump the power line,
and then run back to Rob's vehicle.
- You're okay. You're okay, baby.
- Rob, Rob, keep it cool.
And his head's
kind of turned away from me.
And he's looking through the
windshield, and his eyes are open.
But he's snoring.
That noise that he's doing,
we commonly refer
to it as the death rattle.
When you hear somebody doing that noise,
you know that they're not far from death.
I thought it was the last time
I was going to see him.
Where's suspect vehicle?
It's confusing.
The scenes are confusing.
You still don't know, are the
suspects here? Where are they at?
Because I wasn't sure. I thought
everybody had wrecked together.
I'm running about 120
miles an hour trying to catch up.
I was mad and I was upset
because another fellow
officer had just been hurt.
They are still a hard target.
We're staying straight.
We had two deputies that were
trying to maintain a safe distance
while they were chasing, because
the guy was still shooting at them.
All right, shots fired.
Dispatch, I need an ambulance setting up,
and I need an air evac
setting up closest to my location.
Come on, Rob. You're okay.
Rob. Rob, look at me. Hold on.
While we're screaming at him,
he takes a big, deep breath,
starts blinking. He turns
towards us and looks at us,
and that's when I can see the wind
to the right side of his head.
You're okay, Rob. Rob, you're okay.
His head is just blown open,
and it looks like a busted watermelon.
We need an ambulance now.
Get your med bag. I need it now.
- You're okay, baby.
- I got a bandage. Come on, come on.
He's bleeding profusely.
We have to get him out of the car
so we can stop the bleeding.
Here he is! Med bag!
I got him.
It's just very gruesome.
There's blood everywhere.
This is it. Rob is going to die.
We got you, Rob. We got you.
We're talking life and death.
We know that seconds matter.
Dispatch, what's my ETA on ambulance?
I want to be back
in the car. I can't get an ETA.
The fastest thing
is not to wait for that ambulance.
We need a helicopter. While
we're very familiar with the area,
We know a helicopter is not
going to land at the triangle.
Bring me a car right here, down this road.
And we got to get a car. And so
I'm like, hey, that's work I can do.
I got it! I got it!
So just that team cohesiveness
is like just full on at that point.
I'd almost say we're robotic.
Cars ready, cars ready.
We're going to backtrack
from where we are now
to a safer location that we
call an LZ landing zone.
One, two, three, up!
It really dawned on me at that point that,
somebody I care about has
been hurt in the severity of it.
I'm not losing hope as much as I'm just,
I'm desperately
clinging to hope at this point.
Go, go!
It's okay, buddy.
Having him in the back of my car
with another officer
just trying to talk to him.
Hang in there, Rob!
That was the toughest moment
I've had to deal with there.
But my emotions had just
gotten to me at that point.
I remember needing to get to Rob's house.
As I said, we're very close.
I knew where he lived.
I knew his wife personally.
I need you. I need you
to not have no blood on you.
- Who don't have blood?
- I got blood on me.
I had blood from the tip
of my fingers to my elbows,
and I knew that
I couldn't leave to go get his wife.
You are going to go
to his home in just a minute,
and we're going to get Stephanie, okay?
We had two deputies
following the suspects at that point.
I'm maybe half a minute behind them.
Corporal Trout and Deputy Reed,
they're about 3 quarters
of a mile in front of me.
The two deputies were trying to
keep the vehicle in visual contact,
but they were also
kind of hanging back a little
because one suspect was
shooting a high-powered rifle.
He's just randomly shooting.
A rifle like that has
a longer kill distance.
That bullet, it can go over a mile
in a straight line
and still kill somebody.
I was about 30 seconds away
from catching up with him,
and Corporal Trout advised
that the vehicle left the roadway,
and went into a wooded area
on the right side of the road.
- Where are y'all?
- Where they at?
Don't let it in the woods.
Don't let it in the woods.
We're at the car.
And there was like an old dirt path there
that they actually went down into.
So the vehicle was sitting in the woods.
At that point in time, we really
didn't know where they were at.
These guys seemed to be intent
on targeting law enforcement.
You got movement? He's got movement.
- Which way?
- Looks like it's coming from there.
When I arrived on scene,
the Carroll County Sheriff's Office
had already started forming a basic
perimeter right up on the roadway.
Where are they at?
There's two armed
suspects in the darkness,
and they know where we're at,
and we don't have a clue where they're at.
I just knew that this was probably
not going to end in a good way.
- Who got hit, city?
- Rob got hit.
- Dispatch, check on staff support.
- Rob got hit?
- Rob got hit.
- Son of a bitch.
At the moment, a flood
of emotions kind of came about me,
because I think
very highly of Rob Holloway,
and I consider us to be friends.
Oh, man.
You're hoping that he lives,
that he's got a fighting chance.
But just based upon all the facts,
it feels like the worst is imminent.
Where's the helicopter?
That's all I care about.
Where's the fucking helicopter, man?
- Two minutes on the chopper.
- Here, here.
Two minutes on the chopper.
We start hearing
the helicopter in the distance,
and I run to the back of my patrol
car and get basically glow sticks.
We start throwing them out
to mark this landing zone.
Let's go!
When the helicopter lands,
that's when all
the emotions start to kick in,
because that's when we
gave Rob to these people
and our hands are no longer involved.
I remember feeling just sad, angry,
lost. That's when it got tough.
Well, guys, this one's in your hands.
Just be with Rob and bring him to us,
okay? Help him get to us. Amen.
In your hands, we love you.
And we all walk arms with each
other and Hicks just starts to pray.
And basically pray that Rob makes it.
Coming together and praying
was probably the
only thing that got us
through that moment.
I don't know. It was very hard.
I mean, I was just defeated.
I know. I was defeated.
And I didn't think Rob would make it.
I received a phone call
from Rob's lieutenant.
He asked me to come
to the door, that he was there,
and I just assumed
that Rob had left something
or he needed to pick something up.
And when I went to the door,
his lieutenant was there along
with the day shift lieutenant,
and I knew that something
bad had happened.
I knew that if someone had
to be airlifted from a situation
that their injuries were substantial.
And so I was terrified
of what had happened.
I was praying and begging
God to save his life.
I'm just worried that
they're going to carjack
- somebody out here in a second.
- I agree.
Our concern was with that, you
know, the safety of the civilians.
You know, if they're out of a car,
so to speak, they might
be looking for another car.
If they kept going down this wood
line, there's a neighborhood here.
- Legend Drive's a nice neighborhood.
- You got something going there?
There's a possibility that they might
go down into the residential area
and try and steal a car there.
We're also concerned
at that point in time with,
besides setting up the perimeter,
we have to get other officers or deputies
to assist with the civilian
traffic going into work.
Because at this point, we've got 50
to 60 cars backed up behind us,
and they're just sitting there.
So, we had to get deputies
to take care of that also
and get that traffic moved
and get them out of the way,
because we didn't want
the suspects shooting
over the roadway or into the roadway,
and a chance of hitting a passing vehicle.
You and Gordy. You take
Gordy with you. Go ahead.
I directed several of my officers
upon Whitworth Road
to contain the suspects
in a generalized area and to keep
them from fleeing any further.
Can you call for a helicopter!
Dispatch, can we get a bird in the air?
I felt like I wasn't doing
enough quickly enough.
Time felt like it had slowed
and sped all at the same time.
Shots fired.
- We got shots fired.
- Shots fired.
It came from over there.
46! Ya'll 10-4! 46! Where ya'll at?
It was coming from
the vicinity of the perimeter
that I placed my officers upon.
And I just knew that they
were involved at that point.
To me, I just wanted to get down
there. I needed to get down there.
Corporal Trout yelled, let's go.
And I jumped in his car.
- It's going to be right in here.
- Yeah.
I'm too close.
- Want to stop right here?
- Yeah.
We could see a police vehicle
with lights on down in front of us.
About 25, 30 yards maybe.
I was actually looking to see
if I could see anybody
down on the side of the road,
or anything like that.
I knew there was a Villa Rica officer
that had been involved in a shootout.
But I didn't know where he was at.
Hey, let's move down. Come on.
When the suspect
first shot through the windshield
This is gonna sound weird
but I saw a ball of glass
coming through the windshield
towards me, and then I did feel
like I got hit with a baseball bat.
I don't remember how I did it,
but I ended up out on the ground.
And the shots stopped, and I thought
Corporal Trout had been killed.
Next thing I know,
the suspect comes around
in front of the vehicle.
He's looking at me.
He's kind of stumbling.
And he's trying to bring his rifle
up. And I pulled out my revolver.
And I shot him.
Where'd you at?
I'm going to secure him!
At that point, I exited my patrol vehicle.
Let me see your hands!
And Corporal Trout was
standing in an upright position,
and Deputy Rapetto
was sitting upon the ground,
kind of clutching his arm.
Prior to getting to the scene,
my officers were on that perimeter,
Officer Gordy and Officer Shepard.
But I didn't know where they were at.
- Where is Gordy?
- He is down.
And at that point, it hits me
that something's
happened to Officer Gordy.
I am going down there to my guy.
My guy's shot too!
I didn't know where Gordy was at.
I just knew that I had to get to him.
There was still another suspect out there.
We didn't know where he was at.
Is he going to locate him before I do?
Stay on post.
Hearing Officer Gordy key up on the radio
was a sigh of relief, because
I knew that he was still alive.
Come on, we're going
to drag him. I need cover.
He's been shot multiple times, guys.
Get me, get me, get me.
I could see blood, you know,
coming from his person.
He had blood smeared on his face.
- We gonna get up! I got you brother!
- My eyes!
Based upon the wounds that I saw,
I felt like he had a fighting chance.
We now have three police
officers that have been shot
that have been injured.
We still have one suspect
still out there on the loose.
Georgia State Patrol
had their aviation team inbound.
His location was still unknown.
We were still considering him
just as armed
and dangerous as the first suspect.
The fight's not done. We're going
to get back in this until it's over.
We ain't done.
We're doing the best we can.
We're doing the best we can.
Go ahead.
One of the suspects is in the yard.
Hey, they got one in the yard.
There's one in the yard.
Dispatch advised me
that they received a 911 call
from a resident in the area
advising that she believed there
was a man hiding in her backyard.
It's a storage unit,
get down here by the storage unit.
We're still concerned
that there could be a third
or fourth gun battle.
I believe that's a VSP SWAT.
They engaged and they're going in.
In reality, it makes no sense.
They have direct comms with the bird.
The helicopter walked the SWA
team in step by step to the location
of our second suspect.
They got him.
After the SWAT team
had detained the suspect,
they walked him out of the wood line.
His head was kind of hung,
his shoulders were drooped,
and at that time it was
just a sigh of relief overall.
You felt like, hey, it's over.
Nobody else is going to get hurt.
Early morning mayhem in Carroll County
sent three officers to the hospital
and left one of the suspects dead.
The Carroll County Sheriff's Office
has identified the surviving suspect
as 22-year-old Aaron Shelton.
We expect two of the three officers'
medics rushed to the hospital
to return home soon.
The third, Carrollton
Sgt. Rob Holloway,
remains in Grady's Intensive Care Unit.
We knew that every day
that he survived was better,
and the odds got better every day.
But it wasn't until
three or four days later
that we all met as a shift again.
We got a FaceTime call.
And on the other end
of that FaceTime call was Rob.
Love you guys. See y'all when
I get out. If my head's fixed.
Rob is a fighter
and he has a warrior spirit.
He doesn't give up and he doesn't
let anything get the best of him.
Here he is.
It was very overwhelming.
There were so many people from our
family, from law enforcement family.
Coming home, it was such an honor
and such a humbling experience.
It was wonderful.
On behalf of Carrollton County 911
and the citizens of Carrollton County,
we would like to welcome you home.
Your bravery and dedication to serve
will never go unnoticed or unrecognized.
On the night of April 11th,
being shot in the head
my life was almost taken.
During the initial pursuit,
I told the members of our shift
to be prepared for a gunfight.
All right, back it off. We're
going to follow at this distance.
Cheatwood had gotten
close to the suspect vehicle.
I began to tell Cheatwood,
we're too close. Back off.
Dispatch, we're going through.
We're going 100 miles an hour, dispatch.
The last final destination
that I remember passing
would be Old Airport Road.
That's all I can tell you before
my head was nearly blown off.
I remember hearing somebody
saying, Rob, you're okay.
You've been shot, and the chief knows.
- You're okay, baby.
- Keep it real. Stay with me, Rob.
- Stay with me.
- You're okay.
There is nothing
about the chase that I regret.
We were able to stop a suspect
that had shot at an officer.
Physically, I'm okay.
Mentally, though
I've been diagnosed with PTSD,
anxiety, some
depression, things like that.
It's gotten better, though,
with therapy that I've been getting.
I'm able to deal with it a lot better.
Although the pursuit and
the scheme of things lasted,
you know, minutes.
The events of that night,
I think, will live on forever.
When you go through something
traumatic like this together,
you grow as a group.
Seeing Rob's progress, helped
a lot of us heal. Rob's positivity.
The lives of a lot of people in our
community are forever changed
because of that night.
There was a lot of tension
between law enforcement
and the general public
at that time. And I felt like
from the heroic actions
of all of the officers involved,
our community became closer together.
The process is slow
on the road to recovery.
But trust the process, perseverance,
how bad do you want it?
But don't ever give up.