And Now for the Rest of the Story....

Like Paul Harvey used to say, "And now for the rest of the story..."



First of all, I wasn't involved in any of this.  Unfortunately it was my day off and I didn't even know it was happening - but two of my friends and brothers-in-arms were directly involved.  I want to share what they told me.  They are both active LDS men.  I'll just share some of the details they shared with me and let you ponder on the "little" things that can make a big difference.

These types of days start out like any other.  You're just out there doing the same thing you do day in and day out.  My friend was running radar and everyone was obeying the speed limit.  He was pulled off the freeway on an exit ramp so his radar could pick up cars coming around the bend behind him, but he was not in position to see license plates as cars passed by.

He had been there "for awhile and had a feeling that it was time to move somewhere else" so he pulled onto the freeway not knowing exactly where to go - but just decided it was time to go find something else to do.

Moments later a car, traveling the same direction, passed beside him - not speeding or doing anything unusual.  Nothing about the car stood out to him - but he had a feeling that he should run the license plate through his computer.  He ran the plate and it came back as uninsured.  He flipped on his red and blue lights and pulled the car over.

Earlier in the day, another good friend of mine left his home to go visit his wife for lunch.  He was off duty and as he went out the door he had the feeling "you need to take a bigger gun".  We are always armed - even when off duty.  He normally carries a very small, highly concealable handgun when off duty.  He told me that he just turned around, went back in the house and swapped the small handgun for a larger, much more powerful handgun, and then went on to see his wife for lunch.  We are allowed to drive our patrol vehicles on personal errands as long as we're in our county and have the police radio turned on so we can respond to any emergency situations.

Back out on the highway, my first friend has went up to the car.  A man was driving and a woman was sitting in the front passenger seat.  The man seemed friendly enough, but the woman just stared straight ahead.  My friend got the drivers license from the man and went back to his car.  Upon running the drivers license, he saw the man was wanted for crimes of assaulting a person and causing substantial injury.  He called for backup.

My other friend was now on his way home from lunch with his wife and heard the call for backup.  He was close by and responded.  The two of them approached the car and told the driver to get out of the car.  He refused.  They ordered him out of the car and he refused.  One of them approached the passenger door.  The woman unlocked the door and tried to open it and then the driver put the car in gear and sped off - with the woman still inside.

They chased him at high speed - over 120mph - and after he ran a number of cars off the road they decided to stop the pursuit for public safety reasons.  The neighboring county had been alerted and they were waiting for them.

The driver of the car had kidnapped the female passenger at gun point.  If my friend had not listened to the "feeling" of running that license plate, he never would have pulled the car over - and the man would have most likely gotten away with the kidnapped woman.  The kidnapping had not yet been reported.

My other friend, fortunately, did not need the bigger gun, but I believe this was a warning to be prepared for what was coming.  They also had a feeling to stop the pursuit.  We will never know what would have happened, but had they continued pursuing it would have likely turned into a hostage situation and/or people being killed.  As it did turn out, the driver saw he was no longer being pursued and got off the freeway in a small country town.  When they never made it to the roadblock, the neighboring county units knew they had stopped somewhere and began searching for them and the rest is history.  Nobody was killed so it was a good day!

Experiences like this are what this blog is about.  It was a series of "feelings" - that they both followed - that led to a positive outcome.  Now don't misconstrue this as meaning that when people get shot and/or killed that it was because officers were not listening to the promptings and feelings.  That's not what I'm saying at all.  Sometimes that is the only option... but on this day it didn't end that way - and we are all happy for that.  But on this day, it all ended well because of men who listened to their feelings - AND the amazing brotherhood (I include male and female officers in that term) that came together on, very short notice, to solve this situation.  It's an honor to know and work with people like this.