One of the many annoyances cops have to deal with is the sovereign citizen movement, of which the suspect in the included chase footage is apparently a member. At least the guy sure talks like one when an Ohio trooper pulls him over for failing to signal and things just go downhill from there.
This case shows why cops are so gruff when they pull you over.
The guy, who’s driving a Chevy Malibu, doesn’t like that the cop asks for his driver’s license. He claims that he isn’t “driving” but instead is “traveling” and so he doesn’t have to present a license. Instead of arguing political science with the driver, the trooper tells him he can either cough up the license or be arrested.
Our sovereign citizen chooses option C, which is apparently to run and hope the trooper can’t catch him. It’s a bold yet predictable move for someone who doesn’t believe they have to follow the law of the land, but the guy soon finds out he can be made to comply by force.
At first the suspect just drives fast, quickly learning his little Malibu isn’t all that capable of outrunning a police cruiser. That must be why he suddenly slams on the brakes, coming to a complete stop, then takes off again. It’s a weird trick that doesn’t work.
From there it’s a pretty standard police chase with light traffic. The guy swerves his Chevy around much, keeps the pedal to the floor, and the trooper trails behind going Code Three.
Where our suspect makes his big mistake, other than running from a legal traffic stop, is when he takes an exit and fakes turning right before aiming from the entrance ramp to the highway. The hesitation for that fake-out gives the trooper just enough time to catch up and hit the Malibu hard for the first PIT.
The sedan spins to the left and just as the suspect recovers and tries running some more, the trooper follows that up with another hard PIT, putting the Chevy’s nose right into the guardrail.
We’re usually not covering PIT maneuvers from Ohio State Highway Patrol, but this one is pretty good and definitely entertaining to watch. Hopefully we see more like this out of the state in the future.
Image via State Boyzzz/YouTube
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