A PIT stop for crooks
Published 9:00 pm Monday, August 14, 2006
LYNNWOOD – Lynnwood police Sgt. David Harris inched his cruiser up to the fleeing car, hovering near its rear wheel.
Then the car in front of him disappeared.
In one smooth motion, a blur and screech of tires, physics got the better of the bad guys.
The old patrol car sat sideways on an empty runway at the Arlington Municipal Airport, spun around and stalled in a cloud of dust.
It was just what the sergeant wanted.
“We’re not ramming or smacking into cars,” Harris said. “It’s not aggressive, just a good way to end a chase.”
Harris was spun and jolted for several hours Monday as he trained several of the department’s officers how to use their patrol vehicles to end pursuits with crooks.
The department’s officers are all expected to be trained by Sunday.
Lynnwood will soon allow its officers to execute the precision immobilization technique, or PIT maneuver, during chases.
Washington State Patrol troopers and Snohomish County sheriff’s deputies also are trained to use their patrol cars to safely bump a pursuit to an end.
“We’ve been doing it a long time with a lot of success,” State Patrol trooper Kevin Forrester said.
When done properly, the technique causes minimum damage to the police car and to the suspect’s vehicle. It also is an effective way to defuse what can become a dangerous situation, Forrester said.
More and more departments are training their officers to use the technique, said Don Pierce, executive director of the Washington Association of Police Chiefs and Sheriffs.
“I don’t think it’s the end-all to stop chases,” Pierce said. “It is one more tool in the tool chest.”
The idea is to stop a pursuit early on, before it rips through the city at high speeds, Harris said.
The chasing officer sidles up to the rear of the suspect’s vehicle, matches the speed, taps the back side of the vehicle with the front bumper and slowly steers into the suspect. The suspect rotates, shoots backward and stalls.
The officer should be able to drive forward without leaving the road.
The impact is smooth. There’s no crunch of metal, just a smell of burning tires. Inside the car being bumped, the spin feels a little like being on a carnival ride.
“It’s just very controlled,” Harris said Monday after pushing a car into a spin.
The maneuver will be authorized only under certain circumstances to keep the officers and public safe, he said.
Pierce said it makes sense for departments that allow their officers to chase after suspects to train them in how to stop the pursuit with this maneuver.
“There’s a need to apprehend bad guys. At the same time, we don’t want to hurt anyone,” Harris said. “This gives us another way to stop them.”
Reporter Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463 or hefley@heraldnet.com.
