Angel Eck credits Denver police officers with performing a dangerous high-speed maneuver when her speeding car wouldn’t stop on an interstate highway last Friday night. As the Denver Post recountrs it, As Eck’s 1997 Pontiac Sunfire raced west on Interstate 70, nearing a sweeping 90-degree curve, Officer Gary Ayers turned to partner Troy Bisgard, who was behind the wheel of their police car, with an idea right from the late 1970s- early ’80s television show “CHiPs.” Ayers told Bisgard he had seen “Ponch and Jon” pull their car in front of a runaway car, slow to make contact with the front of the car and keep slowing until it was stopped. That is what they did, and it worked.
“They did an awesome, awesome job,” Eck, 20, said. “I’m glad they watched ‘Chips.’ ” “CHiPs” ran six seasons on CBS, from 1977 to 1983, starring Erik Estrada as California Highway Patrol Officer Frank “Ponch” Poncherello and Larry Wilcox as Officer Jon Baker.
Ayers and Bisgard, who performed the “CHiPs” maneuver at about 60 mph. One officer who observed the scene said the two cars had to be perfectly aligned. “If out of alignment – just a little – it could have sent both cars spinning out of control,” said the observing officer. “The occupants of both cars could have been seriously hurt, or killed.”
Link: http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~53~1929863,00.html