02x09 - This Is Going To Hurt

[bunniefuu]

He is all over the road.

Your heart starts pounding a bit.

Wasn't sure

what we were about to get into.

He's trying to ram me.

My hand went immediately to my weapon.

I was getting ready for the ambush.

We're off in the woods now.

Her know exactly where I'm at,

and if he has a g*n on him,

I'm an easy target.

- 36 south, 150 miles an hour.

- It sounded like a train coming by.

I've never seen a vehicle

without tires go that fast.

- Take him out if you can.

- He was able to regain control.

He came back towards my vehicle,

like, "Man, this is going to hurt."

Evening dispatch, this is Henry, McIntosh.

I've got a 10-80 that's getting close

to your county line on the Southbound 95.

It was 3:20 in the morning.

We got a call that there was a chase

coming into our county from McIntosh.

- Okay, where are they at right now?

- 38 south.

I'm about to lose

some of my deputies' radios.

They had attempted

to stop the vehicle for speeding,

and he refused to pull over

and just continued south,

and then they fell in and gave chase.

- What kind of vehicle are they in?

- ID is a black Nissan Maxima.

We do not have a tag for it.

Okay, how many officers do you have on it?

I've got one, two, three,

four, five, six units.

36 south, 150 miles an hour.

Myself, Deputy Reed, our lieutenant

and the sergeant on shift

was in the patrol building.

We left to go and position ourselves

to help.

- They're at 145 miles an hour.

- Jesus, woohoo.

When you first get notified of a call

like that,

it's just a massive adrenaline dump

at one time,

especially when you go from simple

as simple as doing a report

to now you're about to be

in a 150 mile an hour car chase.

What lane are you gonna be in

with stop sticks?

We had a deputy at 22-mile marker.

Captain, I won't make sticks at this time.

He was trying to set up spike strips,

but the vehicle was coming so fast

he didn't have time

to actually set them up.

With that vehicle going that fast,

he was not able to catch up.

Units be advised, we are 10-80.

We are 95 southbound passing the 20.

He's at 140 plus. All lanes

of travel, all lanes of travel.

All lanes of travel. Fast lane now.

Lieutenant Douglas sent Deputy Reed

and I to Billyville overpath

to set up our spike strips.

I want them, you know,

on opposite sides of the roadway,

so that there would be no way for

the suspect to miss the stop sticks.

48-87 we're blacked out.

We're directly under the Billyville

overpath with spikes.

87, I'm standing by to intercept at 17.

We had another patrol deputy

sitting at about the 17-mile marker.

87, I need you to call it because

McIntosh isn't on our channel.

34 Camden, taking over as primary.

He joined the pursuit.

All clear, taking over 34,

go ahead and call it.

The vehicle passed him still doing

somewhere around 150 miles an hour.

When a pursuit is going 150 miles an hour,

it just puts a lot of people

in danger, not just that suspect,

but the deputies and the innocent

people that are on the road.

The risk for a person

going that fast is deadly.

Coming up to the 14.

One on the bridge at this time,

middle lane.

The suspect could have got off at exit 14,

but with them being behind him he was

traveling too fast to make that exit.

From exit 14 until you get

to exit seven, there are no exits.

You got 7 miles between the two of them

that you have to get them stopped.

Get ready at Billyville, I haven't

quite caught up to him yet.

We got out and took out our spike strips.

We made sure that we were ready.

We talked to each other.

Is this him right here?

Throwing spike strips is probably

the most dangerous thing you can do

in law enforcement.

They see you,

they can either swerve to strike you

or they can swerve to avoid you,

which could cause them lose control

and ultimately hit you anyway.

That's him right there.

We both got a good spike on the vehicle.

The vehicle came by us really quick.

Get in and go! Get in and go!

That's a good feeling, because

you're like, "Okay, we got him.

We got all four tires.

Let's go, let's go, let's go!"

Yeah.

He hit the spikes.

I've spiked a few cars in my time.

Positive spike.

I've never spiked one that fast.

When you hit him it made a loud noise.

Being 10 feet away from the vehicle

whenever it came by going that fast.

I mean, that's a that's

an adrenaline rush right there.

He ♪♪♪♪♪those spikes up.

That car was hauling a*s.

Corporal Thigpen got in the chase

immediately at that point.

It was very important for us

to get up there, to get it stopped.

He was doing 150.

That put distance in between us.

I got up to 130 miles an hour

to try to close the gap.

124 miles an hour, coming up the 11th.

He's losing his rubber.

It was surprising to hear that he

was still maintaining that speed.

Normally, once a vehicle is spiked

and they're on the rims,

then they slow down.

Report, he's coming back as a

missing and endangered person.

10-4.

After that tag, they get a missing

and endangered alert.

At this point, we're thinking, you know,

"Is the guy or person that's missing

or endangered the one driving,

or is somebody else driving?"

It's weird. Why are you running

if you're missing endangered?

Most people are running for felonies,

not because they're, they're missing.

Stand by for foot bail. He is all

over the road. He's on rims.

34 Camden, we've slowed to 55 miles

an hour, right lane at the eighth.

As the vehicle is slowing down,

at that point you're planning,

is he gonna try to foot bail?

Is this gonna turn into something worse?

Back up to 84 miles an hour,

still right lane, coming up to exit seven.

I can see sparks off the rims

on the roadway behind me.

When he got to the back

of my vehicle, I could hear him.

Debris flying everywhere

from this car. 110 miles an hour.

It sounded like a train.

And then he just went on by.

It's not how things are supposed to go.

Everything up until that point

was just textbook perfect,

until the vehicle started gaining speed.

That's not supposed to happen.

Y'all take him out if you can.

10-4, just trying to catch up to you.

Yeah, we're back at 140 miles an hour.

Passing on the shoulder, coming up

to the Crooked River bridge.

Coming up to exit six, right lane,

133 miles an hour.

I've never seen a vehicle

without tires go that fast.

What's going on? Who is this guy?

Why is he running

and what's inside that car?

This is not gonna be easy.

I need to close the gap, so I can

PIT before he injures anyone.

135 miles an hour.

God! I just hit Kingsland's spikes,

somebody else get up here.

I'm right behind you.

I'll stay with him as long as I can.

Coming up to exit three,

140 miles an hour.

I'm still trying to catch up.

Knowing that the primary ran over

spoke strips and he's dropping out,

I was the next closest

to be able to take lead.

Coming up to the 2, right lane,

120 miles an hour.

Get somebody up here to PIT him.

I'm trying,

I'm just not catching up to you.

Coming up on exit 1, right lane, 110.

The Georgia Florida state line

was coming up.

So for me I was like,

"I'm running out of room,

I'm running out of time to be able

to stop this vehicle

before he hurts anyone

or kills someone."

Once he gets to the state line,

we're going to call it off.

It took me 13 miles to catch up to him.

Yeah, we're back at 140 miles an hour.

I'll be taking the lead and I was like,

"Okay, this will be a good spot

for me to do the PIT maneuver."

Take him out.

All units back off a little bit.

I look, weighed my options.

I'm saying, "Okay, we're going this fast.

I need to do the PIT maneuver here."

He was able to regain control

and he came back towards my vehicle.

34 Camden. Vehicle roll, vehicle

on fire! County unit is on fire.

Come on

First deputy on scene immediately

goes to the suspect

to take the suspect in custody.

Get out the car!

Get out the car! Get out!

Get out! Get on the ground!

Get on the ground!

- Roll him over.

- Get on the deck.

I heard that there was a crash

and a county unit on fire.

Who the ♪♪♪is on fire?

Who the ♪♪♪is that?

My mind couldn't really process

everything that was going on.

It was so chaotic.

Who is that?

When I arrived

I observed what I thought

was Corporal Thigpen's vehicle

in two halves,

and one half being on fire,

where he should have been.

So I merely was thinking, you know,

Corporal Thigpen's gone.

Somebody's gonna have to tell his family

and, you know, that was probably

gonna have to be me.

It was loud. You could hear yelling.

There's deputies running all over.

You got the sirens going. You have

just papers falling from the sky.

Loose ammunition going off from the fire.

You have to quickly assess the situation.

Camden, we've got another

vehicle involved that is on fire.

It was another vehicle with flames

sh**ting out of it 20ft into the air.

You can't put that vehicle out,

not with fire extinguishers.

That other vehicle is fully involved.

- Who is that?

- I don't know.

I think that's a bystander.

That's a civilian. I don't know.

g*dd*mn it.

Corporal Thigpen performed a PIT maneuver

while the suspect was driving

on the shoulder.

The driver went from the shoulder

all the way to the median,

then turned back and struck the

side of Corporal Thigpen's Tahoe,

which caused him to flip

and he struck another vehicle,

which caused that other vehicle

to explode.

Who's this?

That's Thig.

Camden, 55 is trapped in his vehicle.

Vehicle roll over,

we have one vehicle fully engulfed.

Hey, Thig! Can you hear me, buddy?

Are you okay?

I saw someone coming.

I did not know who it was.

I didn't know what they intentions were.

Hey! Thig, Thig!

My first thought is

I have to protect myself.

Thig!

So I was going for my weapon

to protect myself.

Can you hear me, Thig?

Thig, can you hear me? Thig!

And then I realized that was Deputy Reed.

- Thig! Can you hear me, buddy?

- Yeah.

- Are you okay? Are you okay, Thig?

- No.

Thig, we've got fire department

en route buddy, okay?

We can't get Corporal Thigpen

out of the vehicle,

not without the fire department

getting there and cutting him out,

so you're just standing around

waiting on the fire department

and it's just a bad situation to be in.

You wanna help and you can't

really help anybody right there.

- g*dd*mn it, dude.

- Thig! Thig!

Take a deep breath, brother,

take a deep breath.

My legs. My legs.

- Your legs hurt?

- From my--

- You're not able to get out?

- From my hip down.

Are you able to get out?

I was trapped, I was helpless.

I wasn't able to do anything

but just be there and be helpless

and wait on everyone else.

There's all over the interstate.

The fire department are trying

to strategize

about how they wanted extricate

Corporal Thigpen from the vehicle.

Get the Sawzal!

They had to use a Sawzal to cut,

to actually fillet the roof to get me out.

Every single movement they did was pain,

pain down my leg, pain in my knee.

I heard a couple of familiar voices,

family.

The fire chief is a cousin,

then the other paramedic, a cousin.

They said,

"We're gonna move you out."

I need someone else right here.

Can you get underneath the arms?

Ready? One, two, three.

Stop, stop, stop. Hold up.

Right here underneath the arms.

What is it besides the shoulder?

What is it?

- It's your leg?

- Your hip? Your hip?

As long as I stopped him

from hurting someone else.

His concern was did we get the bad guy?

I think that goes back to military,

you know. The mission comes first.

And we're secondary.

I got it, I got it. We got you.

One of our deputies,

he ended up telling me

I ended up hitting another vehicle

and the impact that vehicle exploded.

The only thing that went through my

mind was, like, "I k*lled someone."

I would never be able to do this job again

because I've taken someone life.

I was trying to save a life

by stopping this person from hurting

or k*lling someone.

It was my vehicle that hit that vehicle.

That's the one they called

that was on fire.

- They said county vehicle is on fire.

- The Major said this one's on fire.

Maybe it was a 10-46?

- That would be great.

- That would be awesome.

We were looking through the vehicle

while they were putting fire out.

"Is there a body in there?"

"We don't see one."

It was determined that the driver

of the vehicle was actually arrested

by Kingsland police department

the day before for DUI,

so the vehicle was left on the side

of the road there.

The dispatcher told me that vehicle

was a 10-46

and what that means

is it's an abandoned vehicle.

I was so relieved that there was

no-one in the vehicle.

I know that I did not hurt

or k*ll anyone by trying to stop him.

That is the craziest sh*t.

I don't think nobody in there, thank God.

- Nobody's in here? Where they at?

- I think no.

I don't know,

but I'm glad they ain't in there.

Whenever we found out

that the bad guy was going to jail

and there no body,

nobody k*lled in the process,

I mean, it was

it was a weight taken off of us, for sure.

McIntosh deputies took the suspect

into custody

and he was placed in the back

of one of the deputy's cars

and transported back to McIntosh.

I was in the hospital for only three days,

and that's because I could not stand

being in a hospital.

I was pretty hopeful right whenever

he first got hurt that he'd be back.

I thought for sure he'd be back,

but then it was taken,

it was taking a while for him

to get cleared by his doctors.

I was out for almost a year.

I think I was able to do a week,

but we realized that there's an issue

with my back.

So the doctors looked at that,

and then they permanently

disqualified me from doing patrol.

I miss it. Every time I see

a patrol car or I see lights,

it makes me think how much

I loved doing it,

and how angry I am because somebody

else took it away from me.

Corporal Thigpen is a first responder

recruiter now,

he still works with the county.

I still see him

around the patrol building.

It's something I love doing, to keep

me still part of, of the family.

I may not be on the road,

but I can send

somebody that will be on the road

or in fire and rescue that can help.

Thinking back to that night,

I don't have any regrets.

I was able to stop him from hurting

or k*lling someone else.

This accident changed me in

I don't know how many different ways,

but the people see me and I'm smiling

or I'm laughing, or they're, like,

"You don't look

like you've been in an accident."

I'm like, "On the outside, no.

On the outside I'm still hurting."

I still may be broken,

but I'm smiling and I'm laughing

and I'm cheerful,

I try to pass that on

because I'm still here.

That night was kind of quiet.

We were leaving a call.

Deputy Dougherty had seen a vehicle pass

and put it over the radio,

asking did I see that vehicle?

Was it the one from the night before?

It's the stolen Dodge from last night?

The suspect was driving an older gray

model Dodge.

I noticed that it was the same truck

and I kind of locked eyes

with the guy inside,

and at that point I went ahead

and got behind the vehicle,

so that I could provide

the license plate to Dispatch.

Dispatch confirmed that it was a

stolen vehicle at that time.

My heart starts pounding a bit,

because you don't know

when you hit those red and blue lights

if that vehicle is gonna pull over

or if it's gonna punch it.

I was the second vehicle behind the truck.

There was a second where I thought

the suspect would pull over.

When he pulled out onto 20-25, it was on.

Where's it located?

San Jacinto County

is roughly 700 square miles,

about 75 percent of it's

wooded forest and it's very rural.

A lot of dirt roads

that kick up a lot of dust,

so it takes your visibility down

to almost zero at times.

32, speeds are 80 to 85.

It looks like we might be turning

onto 945.

FM945 runs from middle of nowhere

to the middle of nowhere.

I had no clue where the suspect was going.

We were following behind until

he either stopped or we stopped him.

Right lane, going northbound on 945.

Speeds at 45. Picking up.

The suspect was veering, lane to lane.

I tried to keep my spotlight on him,

which I'm not sure if that

was making him mad or not.

What I was thinking was

how crazy he was driving.

If another car was to come around

the corner,

and he wouldn't have had a reaction time,

it would have been a head-on collision.

Due to our policy, we're not allowed

to perform a PIT maneuver.

We basically have to just follow

behind the vehicle

and hope that he makes an error.

Coming up on Shell Oil, speeds at 63.

That speed hitting that dirt,

you almost lose control of your vehicle.

You do a fishtail, you kind of

hit your brakes a little bit,

trying to gain control.

Eastbound on Shell.

These small country roads are always

very isolating,

very spooky, very haunting.

You don't know what's lurking

behind anything.

It looks a lot worse in real life

than it does through that camera.

32, we've hit the pavement on Shell,

speeds upgraded to about 80.

Always wondering is somebody gonna

come and he'll end up T-boning them

or are we gonna make it through this,

okay?

Blew the stop sign at 1725.

Going on Fostoria.

32, we're still southbound

on Fostoria, speeds at 65.

I'll give you a landmark soon as I can.

During the pursuit, I did not have GPS.

I was extremely conscious

of where we were going

and not having a clue

if any other roads popped up,

because I was thinking about

if we were to leave the county

and go into another county.

I would have no clue where we were going.

I go ba*ls to the wall, if I feel I

can drive and keep up and do it,

I don't pay attention

to what the screen says, I just go.

If you feel the car slip, then

your butt puckers up a little bit.

32, be advised he is all over the road.

We didn't know who the suspect was,

didn't know his name.

We just kind of had to go on a limb

of still thinking of what he's doing,

trying to figure out his next move.

32, we're passing Trails End.

Turning northbound on Trails End.

Right away, I knew this was gonna be

a big mistake.

There is several potholes in that area.

Usually, you don't get

over five miles per hour.

And in this case, we were moving.

Is my car gonna be able to handle

this road?

He's in an older model Dodge.

It sits a little bit higher,

got a little bit bigger tired,

so at that point he had the advantage.

32, I believe we just passed Hicks Loop.

32, 30, do you know what this is?

An access road?

I wasn't sure what was in the water,

if we were gonna hit a large rock or not,

but I figured I'm going for it

because he's going for it.

It almost felt like

I was gliding across it,

but at the same time

it took my visibility out.

I couldn't see a thing for a minute.

I saw the suspect hit the water.

I then saw Sergeant Cosme hit the water,

and I said,

"Yeah, screw it, I'm going too."

I did try to stop my vehicle and slow down

and realized it's not wanting to stop.

At the very last second,

my brakes kind of locked in

and I was able to make the turn

before I went off road.

Well, after that creek

and that first left turn,

all the roads run parallel basically,

so when we hit the next street he

made another left, and the next left.

I was kind of mad at that point that,

you know,

"Look, I'm still behind you. When are

you gonna give up?" You know?

"Now's the time, because you haven't

shaken me and I'm still coming."

When you're chasing,

you don't know who they are

or if they have weapons in the car.

You don't know if they k*lled

somebody or robbed a bank,

you just know that they

don't wanna stop for some reason

and you don't wanna let them get away.

Approaching 105.

Speeds are 40 to 45.

He was toying with us,

doing whatever he could

to just frustrate us even more.

He's trying to ram me.

Deputy Dougherty kind of swings

around the back

and kind of gets up next to the vehicle.

He's gonna try to get in front of him

and maybe box him in,

and we could slow him down.

The only options we had were either

to wait until he ran out of gas,

either he crashed or to call another

agency with stop sticks.

If a suspect is willing to crash

or run people off the road,

he has no regard for other people's lives.

32, he is into oncoming traffic.

Just FYI.

He's turning right on Duck Creek Road.

I feel like he was ready to end it.

I also feel he knew the subdivision

and could potentially hide from us.

There was heavy brush and trees,

but there was also

quite a few houses in that area,

so not knowing exactly where I was,

I wasn't sure

what we were about to get into.

He is now headed down service road 4203.

The back of someone's property.

My hand went immediately to my weapon,

I was getting ready for the ambush.

We're in somebody's yard.

Just straight up tearing up

their front yard.

I couldn't imagine what they would see,

a suspect vehicle followed

by at least four sand drag.

This is priceless.

He's heading into a field.

All of a sudden,

we're in the middle of the woods.

I figured this was not gonna be good,

because his vehicle's a little more

made for this than mine is.

He's probably about to stop here.

33, we're off in the woods now.

I didn't see he had a weapon on him

at the time,

so I opted to go with the less lethal

and try to end it right then and there.

I fired two rounds off at the suspect

with the pepper g*n

and missed with both of them.

Oh, he ran this way.

The environment around me

was absolutely pitch black,

extreme brush, downed trees.

I can't see this guy and while

I'm poking around in the woods,

shining my flashlight this way and that,

he know exactly where I'm at

and if he has a g*n on him,

I'm an easy target.

White male, bald headed.

Can we get a dog?

We were still kind of patrolling

the little perimeter

of where we thought maybe he would be.

I thought our chances were dwindling

I was pretty sure at that point

he might have gotten up

and kind of crept off

while we weren't there.

Yeah, he went right where

you're standing, Josh.

I knew it!

- I was right there.

- I knew it.

Lo and behold, they go to the trail

area where I was, and I kid you not,

a minute, minute and a half,

the guard goes, "There he is."

Roll over. Come on. Come on out.

Let me see that hand.

Great job, guys.

Great job, guys.

I kind of liked the fact

that I got to handcuff him.

- Put him in your car, Sarge?

- Oh, yeah. We're going to jail, son.

They made a lot of fun for saying that,

so that was the phrase around

the office for the longest time.

- What's your first name?

- B-R-A-D-Y.

We found out his name was Brady Lloyd

and he did have multiple g*n charges.

- Mr. Lloyd?

- Yes, sir.

I'm gonna read you

these Miranda warnings, okay?

I already know them.

I do think he stayed off-road

more than on-road

for the fact that his truck was built

better than ours for it.

He knew he was giving us some hell.

The proudest thing

about that whole pursuit

was the fact that no-one was injured

and we got the guy.

What's made me most proud

was our determination, not giving up.

I think Mr. Lloyd learned not to mess

with Sam Jacinto County.