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Man leads cops on wild ride |
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Wednesday, 12 December 2007 |
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By Mike Gervais
Register Staff 12-11-2007
Though local law enforcement officials saw no reason for celebration, that didn’t stop a suspected car thief from gleefully dancing on the roof of a stolen vehicle even as a host of officers surrounded the disabled SUV with guns drawn.
The car and its driver had been forced off the road moments earlier by officers attempting to stop the man’s progress from the Mammoth area toward Bishop in a low-speed, wrong-way cruise early Monday morning.
The suspect, Nathan Baird, 26 of Mammoth Lakes, Monday, appeared “to be having the time of his life,” making obscene gestures to personnel from the California Highway Patrol and Mono County Sheriff’s Department as officers attempted to arrest him, first for allegedly driving a stolen vehicle on the wrong side of the road, then for ramming a pursuing officer.
The strange and dangerous saga began early Monday morning when the Mammoth Lakes Police Department issued a “be-on-the-lookout” for at least two vehicles stolen from Mammoth Lakes some time Sunday night or Monday morning. The Mammoth Lakes PD was able to provide a description of the vehicles, but license plate numbers were not available.
Shortly after the “be-on-the-look-out” was issued, the Bridgeport office of the CHP received a report of a vehicle matching the description of one of the stolen automobiles. The vehicle was said to be driving on the wrong side of the road, heading south on U.S. 395 near the Mammoth Yosemite Airport.
Highway Patrol Sergeant Mike O’Sullivan was in the CHP substation at Hot Creek and was closest to the airport. As he set out to apprehend the wrong-way driver, officers Bill Thompson and Charlie Riley, who had been patrolling in Mammoth, were en route to provide back up for O’Sullivan.
O’Sullivan was able to catch up with the green Ford Expedition just north of the Green Church as it continued to travel on the wrong side of the road, straddling the lane divider in the northbound lanes of U.S. 395 heading about 25 miles per hour.
“It was the morning commute,” said O’Sullivan. Traffic “hadn’t really gotten heavy yet, but there were four or five cars pulling off to the side of the road to get out of his way.”
With the driver posing a threat to oncoming traffic, O’Sullivan took immediate action, stopping traffic at the Mt. Morrison intersection just south of the Green Church.
O’Sullivan parked his patrol car parallel to the lanes of traffic, and with his gun drawn, attempted to bar the way for the wrong-way driver.
“He stopped in the middle of the road,” O’Sullivan said. “It was kind of strange because he was laughing and gesturing.”
After a brief stop, Baird allegedly opted to drive around O’Sullivan’s “traffic enforcement stop” and continued traveling south in the northbound lanes of traffic.
The driver “gave him (Sgt. O’Sullivan) the finger and all the niceties” as he passed, said CHP Bridgeport Office Commander Renee Difron.
“I didn’t follow him on the wrong side of the road, as is our policy,” said O’Sullivan. The CHP sergeant paced the SUV in the southbound lanes, signaling to oncoming traffic that a hazard was approaching.
At that time officers Thompson and Riley caught up and joined in the pursuit.
At the north intersection of Crowley Lake Drive and U.S. 395, Baird got into the southbound lanes of traffic and continued driving south with three CHP squad cars in pursuit, officers reported.
A CHP officer who received a report of the pursuit was able to intercept the chase north of Tom’s Place on U.S. 395 and set up two sets of spike strips. “It was a little foggy, and as he came out of the fog, (the suspect) just ran over the spike strips,” said O’Sullivan.
The spike strips punctured both front tires on the Expedition, but Baird continued.
“We were coming up on Tom’s Place where the highway comes back together,” and didn’t want the driver getting back in the wrong lanes of traffic,” O’Sullivan said. “We opted to do a PIT (Pursuit Intervention Technique) maneuver which spins him out,” he added.
The PIT was successful, spinning the SUV around so it was facing north in the southbound lanes of U.S. 395. However, “the guy actually drove forward and rammed my patrol car,” causing minor front end damage, O’Sullivan said.
Not knowing if the suspect in the SUV was armed, Officer Riley came from the side and “rammed the Expedition, basically to get him away from me,” O’Sullivan said.
The driver of the SUV then broke off from the patrol cars and again headed south on U.S. 395.
At that point, fearing that the suspect would again start traveling in the wrong lanes of traffic, Thompson attempted a second PIT maneuver, this time driving the vehicle into the snow, rendering it immobile.
The driver of the vehicle, after ramming an officer of the law, having the front two tires of his allegedly stolen vehicle punctured and having the PIT maneuver applied on him twice, “appeared to be having the time of his life,” O’Sullivan said.
With the SUV stuck in the snow on the shoulder of U.S. 395, Baird exited his vehicle, climbed on the roof “and started dancing and gesturing,” O’Sullivan said.
The suspect was non-compliant with orders to stop dancing, get off the roof of the vehicle and submit to arrest.
With Baird allegedly showing no signs of wanting to stop his antics and come quietly, an officer from the Bishop office of the CHP used a “less lethal” shotgun blast to attempt to subdue him. The “less lethal” shotgun dose is a bean bag projectile used to calm subjects.
“Even after being shot with the less lethal round, he would not submit,” O’Sullivan said. It was at that time that Mono County sheriff’s deputies arrived at the scene, finally convincing the suspect to stop dancing and “gesturing” at officers and submit to arrest by Tasering him.
Baird was arrested without further incident.
“He doesn’t appear to be under alcohol influence,” O’Sullivan said, but law enforcement officers are investigating whether or not he was under the influence of an unknown drug.
O’Sullivan said Baird will be facing charges of alleged felony evading arrest and wrong-way driving, assault with a deadly weapon on a peace officer, driving under the influence and grand theft auto.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 29 January 2008 )
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