Kyle, I said it was against departmental rules; I didn't say it wasn't done. I guess I can tell on myself, since all the other participants are dead now. I had just about 3 years on the department, when one slow night about 2 a.m., I was working with an older partner, I was driving, almost no traffic at the time when we met a motorcycle that was obviously speeding. I made a quick U-turn and turned on the red lights, and instead of stopping, that motorcycle sped up and turned. Now I would not deliberately violate a departmental rule, but I actually just did not think of it, and my senior partner didn't say a thing about it. He sat over there, calmly talking on the radio telling everything we did and each location. We ran 10 stop signs, 5 red lights, went up a one way street the wrong way for about 6 blocks, he went into a small shopping area, jumped the curb and went down the sidewalk, back onto the street, and eventually, without knowing the area well enough, went down a street that was being redone. The pavement was torn out curb to curb and for a block or two we zigzagged around barriers. And when he came to where all the pavement was torn out, he went to jump the curb, misjudged his angle, and fell. He jumped up to run, and I bailed out after him. He ran a short distance, stopped, and turned. I couldn't tell you to now whether he was stopping to surrender or to fight. But with both of us running, when he turned, I ran into him, and we both fell with me on top of him. On the way to jail, he thanked us for not killing him.:laughing: He said he had won a New Mexico state championship on a motorcycle and always thought a motorcycle could get away from a car, and since he thought we were stopping him for illegal gambling, he decided to try it.
Back then, we had 3 speed manual transmissions, no power steering, no power brakes, etc. Our sergeant and lieutenant (and some other officers) complimented me on my driving and my partner on his cool handling of the radio transmissions, but of course could not commend us in writing because we had violated a departmental rule by chasing that motorcycle.:laughing:
Now to make a short story a long one . . .:laughing: That motorcycle rider was working at a used car lot, living up above the car lot office, and hustling pool on the side. But a few years later, I was a detective sergeant in the burglary and theft section when that guy was brought as one of a gang of burglars. He was wearing a very expensive suit that evening, he was living in a very expensive apartment, had a new Cadillac and a new Lincoln. He had been quite successful in his chosen profession. I don't recall how much time he spent in jail, but I later heard that he and another fellow were both found dead with a deck of cards scattered on the floor in anther city. Officially, it was ruled that they shot each other in a dispute over a card game. We had an informant who told us who killed both of them, but we had no evidence and no way to validate what that informant said.
front pic. Should have drove it home and left my old honda there, lol.