High Speed Chase (2023) s02e08 Episode Script

1
He was threatening to kill somebody
over by the sports complex.
He was using his vehicle
as a battering ram.
Speeds are at 70 miles an hour.
Can I take Car 1?
He's rammed 806.
The suspect began to play bumper cars
down the freeway.
We've gone 70 miles.
This guy, he's driving like an animal.
Just tried to run me off the road.
We're at 120 miles an hour.
We're going off-road.
At speeds that fast, it's very likely
that we may have a fatality.
7035, Code 6, 105 North Avenue 52.
I was sitting outside in the parking lot
of the Brigham City Animal Shelter.
A citizen came up to me.
He explained that him and his son
were at the sports complex
and a male came up in a dark-colored SUV.
I recognized the driver
as Brandon Chappell,
a kid I'd gone to school with.
He says, "Well,
what are you guys doing down here?"
And I said, well, I've got my boy.
We're just, we're doing a driving lesson.
The next thing was,
"Do you have a gun?"
I said, what are you thinking?
He says, "I'm thinking
I want to kill somebody today.
You guys look just right."
As soon as he made that threat
of wanting to kill somebody,
it was time to go.
My immediate concern was getting
my son out of there, so we went.
I started going south on 1200 West.
I saw a dark-colored SUV
with a male inside that matched
the description Jared had given me.
I stopped to try to talk to the driver,
and at that point, he waved at me
and started pulling away.
Box 10 to Bravo 9.
Attempted to go 10-60.
Westbound on Forest Street, 1500 West.
Can you run that plate,
see who it comes back to?
We found out that the vehicle
belonged to Brandon Chappell.
Your assigned call has been updated.
I actually had to swerve
from rear-ending him
and he looked over at me and
he flipped me off and took off again.
Still westbound, approaching 2600 West.
He's unpredictable.
We don't know what he's going to do.
Corporal Lyman was on his own.
It's important
he doesn't remain on his own
because these situations,
they evolve quickly.
Oh, shit.
I'd never seen anything like this
where the suspect will just slam
on the brakes,
throw their vehicle in reverse,
keep going, slam on the brakes.
Still traveling on Forest,
heading southbound.
Copy, Forest. Forest, southbound.
Standby, I'll get you a milepost here
in a second.
I knew I had officers coming
and that they'd be there shortly.
I was hoping they'd get there
before I had to take any other action.
The speed limit was 40 miles an hour.
The individual, at the time,
was doing 60 miles an hour.
I pull in behind him,
giving him a wide berth.
Other officers start pulling
into the side of me
to set up a felony stop.
He was threatening to kill somebody
over by the sports complex.
I'm halfway out of my vehicle
trying to give him orders
over the PA system.
Driver of the vehicle-- Shit.
I heard the impact behind me.
He could have killed me.
Get out of the car!
Get out of the car!
I was thinking, is this happening,
or am I just imagining all this?
Confirming they're on Forest,
going west southbound.
Copy.
All three of my front airbags
had gone off. It broke my windshield.
Son of a bitch.
- You good?
- Yeah, I'm good.
The driver of this vehicle is
out of control.
Bravo 11, we've got
one suspect in the vehicle,
that I can see, appears to be a male.
It's my vehicle that got hit.
I'm code 4 and out of the pursuit.
I became the primary vehicle
in the pursuit.
I'm looking at this individual as now
one of the most dangerous
individuals I've ever dealt with.
What is this person capable of?
This needs to end now.
Stop your vehicle now.
Pull to the side of the road.
about probably west Forest.
Box to Bravo 11, still traveling
westbound, about 60 miles an hour.
Looks like we're pulling over now.
No way out other than the same road
he's already on and being chased on.
Copy, still traveling at westbound.
He's trying to turn around on us.
Let's block him in.
Get out of the car!
Get out of the car!
Get out of the car!
Get out.
Watch out, watch out, watch out!
Get out of the car!
He's gone, he's gone!
In the span of eight minutes,
he has already smashed one vehicle,
has slammed my vehicle.
How many other vehicles
is this guy going to try and ram?
I can't believe he's continuing this
after everything
we've already been through.
I heard somebody ask for spike strips.
I had some in my vehicle.
I knew this would be a great place
to try to get him stopped.
It's just a two-lane road with
some barbed wire fence on each side.
- Number 22, do you have spikes?
- I do have spikes.
He is driving in the southbound
Forest Street is roughly
a 40-mile-an-hour road.
The suspect was anywhere between 109
and 120 miles an hour at that time.
I can see them coming back to where I was.
I have the spike strips laid out.
31 take.
Me and another officer were using
what cover we could
in case he decided to try hitting us
instead of the spike strips.
He's coming right now.
Did you get him?
Negative on spikes.
Negative on spike.
Suspect avoided the spike strip
by driving off the side of the road.
It was disappointing.
You can make a plan all you want,
but with somebody unpredictable,
it's hard to figure out
what they're trying to do.
I-15 is a major freeway
that runs through our city.
It is a three-lane highway.
There's traffic all over the place.
He's already shown he was willing
to go head-on with police.
What about the public?
To your left.
350. Traffic is yielding
He's trying to push on his brake pads
to have units slam into him.
The line is at 75 miles an hour.
Traffic is still yielding.
Is there a trooper in the area
that could try to PIT this guy?
105, number one.
My name is Ken Chugg. I'm a trooper
with the Utah Highway Patrol.
We're going under bridge 1100,
speeds are at 90.
I was running lights and sirens
to get there,
but I was still about two miles behind.
Speeds are at 105. Number one.
We want this vehicle
to be stopped immediately.
Maybe he might slam into another vehicle
or cause a wreck,
hurt, or even worse, kill a family.
Just illegally
The individual had threatened
to kill a father and son.
When you have these high-risk situations,
it's always incumbent upon us
that we are showing up
with as many officers as possible.
Number two approaching 30-57.
Speeds are at 70 miles an hour.
Number two lane.
1056, I'm behind the pursuit
doing a slowdown of traffic.
Can I take Car 1?
I came up to make contact
to PIT the vehicle.
Our approximate speeds were
around 70 miles an hour.
I've done quite a bit of PIT in training,
but never at that speed before.
806 is in number one position.
That's copy, number one position.
Fox, we're 102 on you.
Number one position.
106, copy, number one position.
Fox, we're 192 on your north.
It did a full 360
and was now straight again.
It was almost like watching a,
like a teacup ride at Disneyland.
It's where they just spin
and spin and spin.
PIT unsuccessful. PIT unsuccessful.
PIT unsuccessful
Suspect then went after Trooper Chugg
and began to play bumper cars
with him on the freeway.
- PIT unsuccessful.
- Oh, ♪♪♪♪!
He just rammed 806.
He just rammed 806.
Vehicle coming
When the vehicle rammed me,
it didn't push the vehicle forward.
It felt like it was trying to push
the vehicle forward through me.
My head was thrown up
against the back of the headrest.
The back window, as the glass came out,
I could feel the shards of glass
hit the back of my head
and fall down the back of my shirt.
He had directly targeted me.
I was going to do whatever it took
to get him stopped.
Trooper Chugg is one of my good friends.
You know, it's hard to see
somebody go after him like that.
I looked over and he was starting
to pass me on my left,
at which point,
I just went straight across the lane.
Second PIT, second PIT.
I just glanced off of the back fender
because he moved at the last moment.
102 heading north
It was pretty wild to watch,
like a pinball machine or a derby race
where you're just slamming into cars
and walls and different things.
Second PIT. Second PIT.
He's front of me.
As I looked in my mirrors,
I'm still not sure how he did it,
but he was back 360 degrees
and he was straight southbound again.
At which point
I flipped around 180 degrees
and I was going to try
to hit the back end.
miles an hour number one lane.
He's losing fluid.
When I saw Trooper Chugg
coming at me, it scared me a bit.
We were both, I think, at this point,
trying to avoid hitting each other.
- He's down here
- Holy ♪♪♪♪!
The suspect has already gotten
through two PIT maneuvers.
I had to become more
and more aggressive with my maneuvers
to ensure
that this individual was stopped.
He was willing to do
whatever it takes to get away.
I wasn't sure if Trooper Chugg
could continue in the pursuit or not.
Didn't know how damaged his vehicle was.
an hour, number one lane.
I was the only trooper there, so
I was the one that needed to do this.
Ah. This piece of
The fact that the individual
was using his vehicle
as a battering ram, it was considered
a deadly force situation.
I decided I was going to utilize
the concrete barrier
to hit him to the left.
I knew that there is a greater risk
for the driver,
as far as being injured,
but I had to weigh that against the risk
of who could be hurt by him
if we didn't get him stopped.
PIT! PIT! PIT! PIT!
10-1, I'll flip six up behind
and pursue a slowdown of traffic.
PIT! PIT! PIT! PIT!
Get out of the car!
Get out of the car!
Do not reach for anything!
Do not reach for anything!
Stop reaching!
He had shown he was extremely dangerous,
and willing to do anything
and everything to prevent us
from capturing him.
- Get out of the car!
- Get out of the car!
I've got a taser.
Get out of the car now!
Get out of the car now!
Get on the ground!
Get on the ground!
Cover, cover, cover.
One male in custody.
Once we had him handcuffed,
I felt an immediate relief.
Now the danger to everybody was gone.
There's a lot of emotions,
a lot of things going
through your body, through your head.
I walked the perimeter of my vehicle.
Every single point around the vehicle
had damage to it
in one way or another.
If Trooper Chugg had not been
involved in the pursuit,
without the PIT maneuver, I'm unsure
we would've stopped this guy.
PIT! PIT! PIT! PIT!
The fact that we didn't have any civilians
that were seriously hurt it is a miracle.
I'm very grateful for the officers
that were involved.
I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!
They wake up every day knowing
it's a probability that their day
might end up in danger.
I just think we take that
way too much for granted.
I do what's called Highway Interdiction.
Drugs come across the southern border
and they have to be filtered out
to the rest of the United States.
The most convenient way to do that is
utilizing the interstate system.
On December 5th,
it was just like any other shift.
I saw a silver Ford pickup truck.
I noticed it was having trouble
staying within its lane.
I positioned myself behind the vehicle
to conduct a traffic stop.
County 43,
you can show me northbound I-57.
Passing mile marker 64.
What was your reason to stop?
It's gonna be improper lane usage.
He was obviously ignoring my lights,
refusing to pull over.
He was not going to stop.
County 43, still northbound, passing 65.
Speeds 111.
I had just started a normal day,
and now I'm driving at 110 miles an hour
five minutes into my shift.
The speed limit on the interstate
there is 70 miles an hour.
We're now in the felony level range.
County 43,
you're getting difficult to hear,
I'll be switching over to ISPERN.
ISPERN stands for the Illinois State
Police Emergency Radio Network.
ISPERN, this is Williamson County,
Unit 43. Do you copy?
Williamson County 43.
Du Quion, go ahead.
Speeds are currently 105.
Reason for pursuit was traffic violations.
Is this guy wanted? Is he involved
in smuggling narcotics?
We don't know why someone's running,
what's going through their mind,
or especially what they're willing
to do to get away.
There you go buddy, hold the line.
Hold the line.
I was trying to use my spotlight
and see how many heads
were inside the vehicle.
There's 3 or 4 people, we come
to a stop on the side of the road
and now it's 3 or 4 versus one,
I'm probably in some trouble there.
Du Quoin 43, milepost 83, speeds 95.
If you have any units available to assist,
I'm still up here by myself.
It'd be appreciated.
I've known Corporal Fauver
since high school.
I knew when he keyed up the radio then
it was going to be a significant reason.
So I hurried over to the interstate.
We were driving directly away
from the center of the county
where all of my backup would be.
I knew I had to step it up a bit.
If they're running 105, I got to run 115
trying to catch up to them.
Milepost 90. Speeds 100.
My biggest fear is they'll cause harm
to someone innocent
that's just traveling along the road.
Whenever you're in a pursuit like this,
radio traffic is essential because
it moves faster than any vehicle.
Milepost 95, speeds 100.
Coming up on the 64-57 split.
Interstate 57 feeds
into several other interstates.
It's a thorough way
where you could get to Chicago
or St. Louis or to Indianapolis.
I'd call it a shortcut.
We came up to Interstate 64.
You could have turned westward
toward St. Louis.
That way, we're now going towards a major
metropolitan higher population center.
You don't know what the person's carrying.
Not always just drugs. There's
human trafficking, sex trafficking.
We have to stop them
before they make it to their destination.
People may try to trip us up
by the last second,
switching onto a different interstate.
When you're in situations like this,
you fall back on your training.
If I'm feeling some stress,
I know he's probably feeling
more on top of it
just because I'm chasing him
versus him chasing me.
It's my job to follow
the vehicle in front of me,
keep sight of it,
and then relay where I'm at.
We'll be continuing northbound
I-57, Milepost 96.
It was just him. He was by himself.
Kind of drove me to drive a bit faster.
Du Quoin, 43.
We just crossed into Marion County.
Speeds are 95.
ISPERN, 43, do you copy?
Du Quoin, 43, do you copy?
Du Quoin, 43, do you copy?
I'd lost communication with dispatch.
I'm trying to relay where I'm at
and what's going on,
and I'm not hearing anything back.
Du Quoin, 43, do you copy?
Nobody knows where I'm at.
It's a very dangerous situation.
Du Quoin, 43, do you copy?
Williamson County 43, I did not copy.
Repeat your traffic.
10-4. Our radio struggling out here.
Be passing exit 109. Speeds are 90.
Williamson County, 43.
I believe I copied northbound,
milepost 109.
Once I was able to speak with people,
it brought some comfort.
We've now gone well over 50,
60 miles at high speeds.
I knew I was good on fuel,
so you got to factor in the person
I'm chasing. Are they running low?
Are they now going to try some more
dangerous maneuvers to get away?
I just hope everybody else
has gas with me.
Yeah, Williamson County units
that are trying to close in
are running pretty low.
One of our deputies had pulled off
to get fuel.
Copy.
I was pretty worried we'd run out of fuel,
Corporal Fauver would've been by himself.
The last thing you want is your buddy
getting caught in a gunfight,
and you're stuck on the side of the road.
It definitely brought some relief
to see some red and blue lights.
So we're gonna try
a rolling roadblock here.
We were at well over 100 miles an hour.
PIT maneuver, it's out of the question.
Our only option then
was to try and slow him down
with the rolling roadblock.
So I can hear, Jefferson County's
trying to block him off here.
The rolling roadblock would be
putting enough units around him
to where he has nowhere else to go.
You utilize preferably 3 vehicles,
one behind, one to the side,
and one forward, to slow that vehicle down
and move it off the roadway.
It limits their avenues
and their threat to the public.
We were using semi-traffic
that was around us.
Semis are usually traveling
at slower speeds.
We could use that to our advantage,
along with placing units
up in front of him
to block any exits for him to try
and get around that semi.
Vehicle tried to run me off the road.
Still northbound. Speed 60.
Whoever was behind the wheel
was a special kind of bad guy,
willing to run the police officers
off the road.
Knowing that he's willing
to potentially kill me
it tells me he's willing
to do anything to get away.
80 miles per hour,
northbound, milepost 118.
I was able to pull up
directly alongside him,
I was trying to get a look inside
to see how many people were in it.
If he had a firearm, he can try
to use it on me at that point.
I wasn't able to see
in the vehicle at all.
It had dark window tint,
so I had no idea
how many people were in it.
Vehicle's passing on the shoulder.
Still northbound.
Milepost 120. Speed 90.
Tried to box him behind a semi.
Didn't work.
I think he had gotten wise to it
every time we came up to a semi.
He can't see what's on that shoulder
when he makes that pass.
It's definitely a high-risk move.
Just tried to run me off the road again.
Passing exit 127. Speeds 80.
This guy can drive.
We've boxed him in
between at least three semis.
He's made it out.
It's all or nothing for him.
He's throwing caution to the wind
to try and get away.
We've just got to wait
until he runs out of gas.
It started at freaking 60, dude.
We've gone almost, we've gone 70 miles.
I've got one of our guys with me.
We don't let our guys go alone.
I'm going to have his back.
and we're in Effingham.
Effingham is over 100 miles away
from where we had started this chase.
We were going into town here.
Not what I wanted to do.
I'm not familiar with this area at all.
He might know this town better than me,
and he knows maybe some roads
he could take to try and get away.
I'm running out of gas.
This has now become a much more
dangerous situation to the public.
We have to stop this guy.
Turning left onto West Maple.
North on Maple from Jefferson.
We're in residential area.
This guy was gonna kill someone.
The last thing that I wanted was
a family coming home
from the bowling alley or a movie theater
and get T-boned by this guy
because he's driving like an animal.
Still northbound Maple.
Ran a stop sign.
I decided that if this guy made
the mistake to slow down enough,
I've got to put a stop to this now.
10-50, 10-50, stand by.
10-50.
Put your ♪♪♪♪♪♪hands up!
- Hands up!
- Show me your ♪♪♪♪♪♪hands!
- Hands!
- Show me your hands now!
On the ceiling!
Put them on the ceiling!
- Put them up!
- Put them up!
The most dangerous part is
taking someone into custody in a vehicle.
You don't know if they'll take
that time to stop and fight.
- You got cover.
- I've got you.
- Open the door!
- Don't move!
Put your hands on the ceiling.
You're not stepping in.
There was nobody else in the vehicle
other than him.
Put your hands on the ceiling.
He was outnumbered, and the advantage
was definitely in our favor.
He was cool as a cucumber.
Calm as could be.
I could smell marijuana coming out
of the vehicle really strong.
I went around and looked
in the bed of the truck,
and I saw two brand new suitcases.
I yelled at Corporal Fauver
and offered him the honors
to open up those suitcases.
And he was like, "Oh, yeah."
We found 75 bags of marijuana
and several cases of promethazine.
We estimated the entire worth to be
close to a quarter of a million dollars.
Something like that we generally call
a suicide load.
It's called suicide load because
if you're stopped by law enforcement
with 80 pounds of cannabis in your car,
it's game over for you.
That's trafficking amount.
A 150-mile chase
starting in Southern Illinois
lands a Los Angeles man in jail
after authorities say
they caught with more than a quarter
million dollars worth of drugs.
My wife, we have an app on our phone.
If I go over 80 miles an hour, it dings.
She was like, "Did you really have
to go that fast?"
Like, yes, I had to go that fast.
To see the narcotics, to catch the guy,
to put him into custody, it was worth it.
I call that a good day's work
when we take that amount of narcotics
off of the street in one night.
We were not gonna stop until we ran
out of gas or he was in custody.
He took a gamble
coming through Williamson County.
Then he lost.
Blue in color, Chrysler Aspen,
Virlyn B Smith, Victoria Drive.
Fairburn 34.
The vehicle took off on me.
Going down Virlyn B Smith.
I was patrolling the area of Durham Lakes
when Officer Montgomery got on a radio,
she was trying to initiate a traffic stop
on a vehicle that wouldn't stop.
We have to catch this vehicle
and get it chased out.
Currently passing Durham Lakes Parkway.
Going northwest on Virlyn B Smith.
Once she said where she was,
I realized I was close by.
Making a left turn off of Virlyn B Smith.
I knew that was coming up on me quick.
And we was right beside a school zone.
He was coming at me
about 70, 80 miles per hour.
The roads are very tight.
We get a lot of kids standing
on the corner waiting around.
I was praying there was
no school buses on the road.
We just crossed into Coweta County.
He wasn't stopping, so once we got
into Coweta County,
we asked for assistance.
If a pursuit comes through here,
our sheriff would like it to end
as quickly as possible.
They call us the Coweta County Cowboys
because we will chase you
and put you in jail.
Sergeant Holloway,
one of the best drivers we have,
he was able to join the pursuit.
I don't like tooting my own horn,
but I'm one of the most
highly trained officers on patrol.
Right, I got them right here ahead of me.
Fairburn 31. We got Coweta County
Making a U-turn
trying to catch up with us.
Seeing Coweta County deputies
enter the pursuit,
it was a sense of relief
because I know at that point,
if you run from Coweta County,
you're going to get caught.
31, 234, let Coweta County take primary.
Gotcha.
We're at 120 miles an hour,
coming over the bridge.
It makes us wonder
if they got warrants,
possible drugs in the car,
illegal things in the car
that they don't want us to find.
The number one thing
that went through my head
was to try to stop this pursuit
before it reached the intersection
into downtown Newman
the most populated area
in our county.
My goal was to PIT the car off
into the ditch.
He's in the other lane of travel.
I had one of the fastest cars
on patrol that day,
but I could never really match his speeds
because every time I would get close,
he would either brake check me
or swerve into the other lane.
All right, we're at the bypass.
He's going straight across.
The suspect, he was driving erratically.
He was driving on the wrong side
of the road, and he didn't slow down.
He just ran straight through the light.
He's going straight across.
We're continuing downtown.
There was no way to use the PIT maneuver
due to the flow of traffic, the buildings,
and the pedestrian foot traffic.
All right, he just hit a car
here at the intersection.
He actually side swipes a car.
Luckily, no one was injured
and only knocked his mirror off.
If the danger to the public outweighs
the apprehension of the offender,
then I would've canceled the pursuit.
All right, he just hit a car
here at the intersection.
He will hit the city.
We're continuing downtown.
The only reason
I did not cancel the pursuit
is because we hit every green light.
I guess God was on our side that day.
Just run him up to Ricketson.
And see if we can flatten his tires.
Corporal Ricketson was at the intersection
south of me, setting up stop sticks.
Putting out stop sticks with
a vehicle traveling at those speeds
it becomes very dangerous
on those county roads
because there's lots of curves.
All right, we're coming right up to you.
Go, go. Come on, come on.
Come on, come on.
Quick, quick, quick!
There's a chase coming.
All right. 10-50.
All right, 10-50.
All right, 10-50.
All right, he's continuing to south,
he missed the sticks.
I'm about to end it right here.
He was brake-checking and moving away
from the PIT maneuver.
It seemed like he had fled
from law enforcement before.
Whether I damaged my vehicle
or injured the offender,
I was ready to end this pursuit.
Turning into 40-35.
But then the offender turns
into some random address.
And I think his plan was to pull back
behind the house
and flee into the wood line.
All right, we're going off-road.
The Georgia State Patrol goes
to the other side through the house.
T-bones him.
I could see Coweta County,
Georgia State Patrol officers
trying to get the subject
out of the vehicle
Open the ♪♪♪♪♪♪door,
open the ♪♪♪♪♪♪door.
We drew out our firearms.
In a situation like that,
you'd rather be safe than sorry.
Come on.
Other side, other side, other side.
Get on the ground! Get on the ground!
I got cuffs, I got cuffs, I got cuffs.
Calm down. Hey, calm down, calm down.
Appreciate y'all fellas.
We appreciate y'all for this one.
You can put him in this car.
- Where?
- Right here.
I appreciate y'all.
Thank you very much.
It's always a great feeling
when you catch the subject.
It's a trophy.
Please. Please.
After he'd been on a high-speed chase,
putting people's lives in danger,
and now he's scared,
it was unbelievable.
Little bit of weed.
Got some crack.
We found what appeared to be drugs
in the car and a handgun.
I just found a 69G.
- Oh, he had a lot of good stuff.
- Yeah.
There's a lot of reasons
why he did not stop.
For me, that was actually
the first pursuit that I was in
that we actually caught the person.
We both was happy. No one was hurt.
I kind of patted Montgomery on the back.
After the pursuit, like, we did it.
Hey, we got him.