Of course it was a Ram truck…
You might remember back in April of 2020 when it was fashionable to scream “defund the police” that a fatal PIT maneuver involving Arkansas State Police went viral. With only a small clip of the whole chase, countless journalists and social media experts immediately and almost in unison used the incident as proof that police chases are bad and police are bad and you can’t possibly defend either otherwise you’re bad. Thankfully, cooler heads have prevailed since and the movement to defund police has lost most of its steam, although not without doing plenty of damage first. Now we have the full dashcam footage of that fateful PIT maneuver at 109 mph, instead of just a little clip, shedding more light on what happened two years ago.
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First off, we’re not the least bit shocked a Ram driver is being this aggressive with police. We don’t say that to imply all Ram owners are bad people; some members of the Motorious team are Ram owners. But we can admit there are certain Ram owners who have built up a stereotype for being overly aggressive around everyone else on the road. We don’t know why this is.
It’s been revealed by the report of Trooper Shawn Ellis he was advised by his superiors that he was to stop the Ram immediately. This decision was made after the driver blasted through intersections, passed other cars on the shoulder, and did other reckless maneuvers. They obviously felt calling off the pursuit was the wrong thing to do and that if the chase didn’t end soon someone innocent could have been seriously injured or worse.
You can see the result of the PIT maneuver in the video. Did the officer execute it correctly? We’re not law enforcement, so we’re not going to weigh in on that. But we do know the sheer weight and size of the truck makes it harder to push. That could explain why both vehicles ended up on the shoulder. The officer was seriously injured as his car was launched into the air. The driver of the Ram pickup truck was killed, as you probably already know.
Thanks to Real World Police, which uploaded the entire footage of the fatal PIT maneuver, we can see the 109 mph PIT maneuver in context. Sometimes it’s worth waiting for the details of a story to come out before drawing conclusions.
Ultimately, instead of blaming police for trying to bring a pursuit which could’ve easily been deadly not only for them but also innocent bystanders to a halt, we should be asking why people think running from cops is a good thing? Have we been glorifying criminals racing through public streets like they’re Bonnie and Clyde, selfishly putting everyone else at risk so they can avoid the consequences of their actions? When a police officer tells you to pull over, even if you don’t think you did something wrong, just pull over. The whole thing can be sorted out later. But making a run for it is a stupid move as you’ll be racking up the criminal charges. And it could be the last decision you make.
