High Speed Chase

Today I was involved in a two county long high speed chase.

No.

I wasn't the one running.

Yes.

I was chasing! Woo Hoo!

So, I'm driving home from Quizno's with the girls in the back seat. About halfway home we are on a major country road when I was shocked to see the passengers in a Black Toyota 4Runner, license *** ****did you really think I'd be that dumb?), throw something out the window at a group of black girls walking down the street.

Can you say :

Yes, you read correctly...I witnessed a felony missile incident. I couldn't tell if it was a water balloon or a drink, but I could see the shock on the girls' faces and the liquid everywhere.

The 4Runner floored it and so did I; the chase was on! I sped up and got the alleged felons' license plate and wrote it on the back of my hand with my handy dandy Uniball pen. You know that means I'm going to have to scrub to get it off. If you see me before I bathe again you'll find out the license plate number. My cell phone places my call to 9-11 at 6:15 pm.

"What is the nature of your emergency?" asked the polite lady dispatcher.

"Um, (I write better than I speak) the car in front of me is throwing water balloons or something at people on the side of the road."

We launched into a description of the event, the car, the license plate number (it starts with J and ends with 3...are you happy now?), etc. Then suddenly it turned left onto a road across county, and thus jurisdiction, lines. I quickly followed it and gave a narrative. The dispatcher connected me with the new county's dispatcher and caught her up to speed. As the black 4Runner navigated the back roads of the county I currently call home I narrated the turns and directions. The Sheriff's Deputy in the #22 car was being given my directions so as to intercept. Then suddenly the 4Runner, who may have by this time realized I was tailing, made a crazy dash across lanes and onto the highway on-ramp at the last second!

I, remember the girls are in the back seat the whole time, check my mirrors and swerve onto the on-ramp with one hand; no, I wasn't using the hands free headset that sits in my coin drawer in my Corolla. I call out the new direction and the Deputy is given new intercept coordinates.

At this point, I had already ascertained that vehicle was occupied by four white males with baseball caps.

They floored it on the interstate heading southbound. I floored it myself and had to weave through traffic at speeds over 80 mph. Yes. At speeds over 85 mph. In fact, I was going 90 mph at times. I hung back a little, in case they didn't know for sure they were being followed.

Somewhere in the excitement the dispatcher excitedly comments that the girls had called 9-11 ands reported the incident. So, the cops had all the info. The victim, the witness and the suspects in pursuit!

I was telling the dispatch how quickly they were going and giving mile marker updates. They passed the first exit and then a rest stop. I was glad they passed the rest stop...that would have been weird trying to stalk them there.

So I confirm their location as we near were the Sheriff's Deputy has hidden in a cut in the trees right before the exit. The dispatcher is relaying the info and then suddenly the 4Runner hits their brakes and swerves across lanes towards the exit!

The Deputy's car leaps out of the cut. I call out our exact position as I quickly pull to the shoulder of the exit ramp. The blue lights accelerated by me before I was even completely out of the road!
Nailed!

So we sat there and waited so I could give my statement. Second born, upon hearing my accurate prediction of missile charges, stated, that the boys in the car were "mean."

The kind Deputy added to my statement and then, as he copied down my license and registration, he told me that the four were baseball players for the big college in our state's capitol.
Not to name any names.

He told me that the guy who threw the liquid on the young black girls was facing a felony and that the others were accessories. He was going to hand over all the info to the county in which it had originally occurred. He had admonished these young men and told them that this could damage their baseball careers.

Well, my students would be greatly saddened by my doing my civic duty. They'd look at me with pure disgust and say to each other, "He don't know! That N***** (yes I get called that too) just don't know! Snitches get stitches!"