High Speed Chase (2023) s02e10 Episode Script

1
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 gun. He has a rifle 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 killed
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, shit. ♪♪♪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 gun.
I don't know where the gun went.
I wasn't sure if the gun 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 kill 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 gun.
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 shoot 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 killed
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 kill 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 kill 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 gun.
He has a rifle guys, be cautious.
He's holding a rifle
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 gun
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 rifle in the truck?
I looked real quick.
I didn't see anything.
- No rifle? Okay.
- I didn't see it.
When they searched the vehicle,
there was a metal pole with a strap on it.
It resembles a rifle.
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 kill anybody.
There was a time, during pursuit,
where I was like,
"This is gonna end with somebody
being seriously injured or killed."
I think God was on our side.
God was with us.