Police say maneuver safely halts fleeing car

Police officers like Lynnwood Sgt. David Harris know that the faster and longer a car chase, the more dangerous it becomes.

So on a recent morning, Harris guides his fast-moving patrol cruiser until the front end is next to the left rear fender of a "suspect's" vehicle. The officer turns his steering wheel a few degrees to the right and gives a gentle nudge to the other car's rear fender, sending it into an about-face spin and locking up the car's engine and transmission.

Chase over.

While this was only a training exercise within the safe confines of the Arlington Airport, Harris and a growing number of police agencies in Washington believe the maneuver known as PIT will make for safer roads for law-abiding drivers.

"It comes on the heels of vehicular pursuits, which are inherently very dangerous," said Sgt. John Urquhart, spokesman for the King County Sheriff's Office, which began training its officers for PIT maneuvering about eight years ago. "We can either not have pursuits or stop them as soon as we can."

PIT — an acronym for Pursuit Immobilization Technique — has its origins with the California Highway Patrol in the 1970s. The technique was perfected by BSR Inc., an advanced-driving and police-pursuit-training academy based in West Virginia. BSR coined the move Tactical Vehicle Intervention, but it is now best known as PIT.

Police across the nation have hailed PIT as a safe alternative to other pursuit-ending techniques such as ramming a car off the road — which can result in serious damage and injuries — or the use of "stop sticks" or spike strips that puncture a car's tires, the use of which also has raised serious safety questions.

PIT is not without critics, however.

Opponents claim the maneuver constitutes use of lethal force, as a poorly trained officer using the technique under the wrong conditions could cause death or serious injury to the person being chased.

But a Florida court case that addressed a death resulting from a PIT stop found that while fatalities could occur in certain situations, use of the PIT maneuver didn't constitute lethal force under that state's law.

And trainers and officers here say that with well-trained officers, PIT is much safer than other techniques and far less dangerous to the public than having a car chase reach high speeds on a congested freeway.

Mishaps rare, police say

The maneuver is not foolproof.

On a recent morning, Kent police Sgt. Eric Hemman attempted a PIT stop on a stolen Honda on Interstate 5 near Boeing Field when the tires on his cruiser caught the edge of the roadway, causing the cruiser to roll at least six times, said Kent police spokesman Paul Petersen. The car was destroyed, and the stolen Honda got away.

Hemman, an 11-year department veteran, suffered minor injuries.

"We have used the PIT maneuver dozens and dozens of times and we have not had injuries and not had serious damage done to our cars," Petersen said.

Lynnwood police have received PIT training in recent weeks at the Arlington Airport; runways at other small airports around the state have also been used for training.

Snohomish Police Chief Gordon Wiborg, whose officers recently began PIT training, said the maneuver will ultimately keep lawful drivers on public roads safer. Sometimes his officers have abandoned pursuit of a suspect to avoid putting the public in danger, he said.

And even after a criminal has made a clean getaway, he or she will generally continue to drive erratically for a few more miles, potentially putting more innocent drivers at risk, Wiborg said.

"People that are being chased will often continue to drive," he said. "There's a fantastic danger out there when it keeps going."

Wiborg and leaders from other departments said using PIT can be especially effective at keeping car chases off busy streets and highways like I-5. They also insist it's safe, mainly due to extremely strict restrictions on when, where and with whom PIT is appropriate to use.

"We have had a pursuit policy for a long time, and after years and years of looking at several hundred pursuit evaluations that showed great discipline, our chief decided we needed another technique," said Harris, who on Aug. 18 led training of Lynnwood police officers on airport runways in Arlington. Harris said most officers are able to pick up the PIT maneuver within a couple of hours.

During the training, officers learn how to use PIT safely on a pursued vehicle. They are also taught department-specific policies on PIT usage. In Lynnwood, officers must have a supervisor's approval to use the maneuver at speeds greater than 40 mph.

Policies guide use of PIT

Other departments have different policies. Urquhart, with the King County Sheriff's Office, said deputies aren't allowed to perform the move at speeds above 40 mph.

Seattle police spokesman Jeff Kappel said his department, as a rule, doesn't use PIT maneuvers or actively train officers to use them, mainly due to concerns for public safety if the move were used on crowded streets or freeways.

"It's essentially never used here," he said.

Wiborg said his officers are trained to evaluate more than a dozen factors — including the severity of crime suspected of the pursued driver, weather and road conditions, traffic, cruiser maintenance and the officer's own driving ability — before using PIT.

Wiborg and other departments have, in part at least, based their own department policies on rules suggested by the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs, which require strong assessment of traffic and road conditions and potential danger to other drivers before using PIT, he said.

When starting PIT, an officer will approach the fleeing vehicle diagonally from behind, matching speed as closely as possible. With only a slight impact — and usually without causing damage to either car — the cruiser gently pushes the pursued vehicle's rear fender, sending it into a spin as the police car continues forward.

The abrupt motion and sudden change in thrust direction will usually stall a vehicle's power train, allowing officers to surround the surprised driver.

Some departments have purchased so-called PIT bumpers, a wide rubber belt that sells for $250 and wraps around a cruiser to protect it.

At worst, though, area officers said some vehicle damage is worth the risk in preventing the dangers of high-speed chases.

"All you might get is a little bit of bent sheet metal," said Urquhart. "And that's a small price to pay."

Information from Seattle Times staff reporter Jennifer Sullivan is included in this report.