In Blue (part one)

He gripped the wheel a little tighter than normal but didn’t realize it. The siren seemed louder than usual, he noticed that. Although the world was in slow motion, the cars he passed were blurred in his peripheral vision. There was a slight ache in his right arm. Was it his imagination, or was it still hurting a year and a half later? He wished the car he was pursuing would just pull off the side of the road, but he had already been chasing him for over six miles. It should have been a simple traffic stop, but this was not going to end well.

The chatter on the radio was reverberating in his head, which was now starting to hurt as well. After 14 years of law enforcement, this was not new to him. But it had only been 4 days since he returned to work. Six other units were now involved in the chase. Only one other officer in pursuit was from his department, so they were all trying to talk on the statewide channel, and it was cluttered with activity from several other un-involved departments. One more mile, and there would be another department involved. More noise, more confusion.

“419 to radio…we are southbound on the interstate about to leave the county…contact OSP to spike the interstate…he’s not stopping.”
The answer came back; “419, OSP is closing the ramps in the vicinity and will spike at mile 181.” He thought to himself, “that’s two miles from here, we could be out of radio range”. He was suddenly very aware of the other pursuing units and thankful for their presence.

He glanced at the speedometer then reported to the radio; “419 to radio, we are in excess of 100, he’s still weaving in and out of traffic.” As the radio confirmed his transmission, he noticed his temperature gage crossing into the hot zone. When he looked up, he could just make out the OSP units in the distance on the side of the interstate. Faintly he heard on his radio; “radio to 419, OSP advises spikes are down.” Instantaneously, he could see the blue Cadillac swerve abruptly within a cloud of smoke and dust. Everyone including the blue Cadillac began to slow down. He and three other units began to pull into formation to block in the Cadillac in case the spikes weren’t enough. The spikes worked however and the blue Cadillac careened toward the center strip.

The pursuing units seemed to all arrive at once, lights flashing, sirens still blaring, doors flying open, guns drawn, officers yelling, an overhead OSP chopper kicking up dust and driving the decibel level far beyond tolerable levels. The driver of the blue Cadillac emerged from the car. Despite orders to “get on the ground” the driver leveled the rifle at the first officer. There was one command to drop the gun…shouted by several, from multiple directions. The rifle however was pointed squarely at one officer. He fired once. That was enough. The threat was over.

The adrenalin continued to pump. He reached for a cigarette, forgetting that he had quit smoking while he was in the hospital. The internal affairs shooting team was already on its way. The squad was there checking for signs of life. There were pictures being taken, the chopper went away, the world was suddenly quiet. When the squad left the scene with the suspect in the back, it left without lights or siren.

The supervisor arrived, and asked him to hand over his gun, until the investigation was over. As the measurements and photos were taken, he sat in his own zone car… and he thought about his wife.