There was a good thunderstorm overnight. I awakened, rolled over, and went back to sleep.
In the morning, it was already drying out by the time I unloaded at the delivery location. On the way back to Wisconsin, it noticed that the area had gotten a significant amount of rain. There were curving, lazy steams carving out the landscape in farmer's fields. In fact, the Fargo, ND area is under a flood warning for this evening.
It didn't rain at all the entire way back (and my truck still looks as thought it was just washed!).
In Minneapolis, MN, I was a bit player in a car chase. I was headed East on I-694 (the northern bypass loop) when I saw a white BMW traveling west with about 20 sheriff deputies in hot pursuit (complete with lights and sirens). I mentally assessed that there was a high-speed chase going on and continued driving. I also thought it would be kind of fun to have a couple of semi-trucks box in the bad guy forcing him to stop and be caught by the good guys.
Minutes later, I glanced in my rear-view mirror and noticed a white BMW along with about 5-squad cars in pursuit. The bad guy (a supposed bank robber according to a trucker on the CB-radio) was now heading east and in no time passed the trucker on my left (I was in the middle lane) in the median lane next to the highway concrete divider. Darn! I should have asked the trucker on my left if he felt like being a hero today--we'd box the bad guy in just like I had been thinking. Too late--he was already by us.
My this time, everyone on the freeway was beginning to slow down and realizing that we were in the middle of a real car chase--the kind you see on the evening news from a helicopter. As we drove further, I noticed squad cars posted on exit ramps and under overpasses. Some of them had laid down roll strips in one lane of traffic and were ready to activate them to deflate the bad guys tires. However, this guy changed directions so fast that law enforcement couldn't keep up with his antics. So, they didn't have enough time to slow/stop traffic so that they could "steer" the bad guy over the roll strip.
Just when I thought it couldn't get any more bazaar, here came the BMW going west again with a few chase cars in pursuit. Apparently, when law enforcement realized that this guy might continue changing directions on them, they decided to stop westbound traffic completely and setup a blockade. Unfortunately, the bad guy was no dummy. He realized that if he went beyond the westbound blockade and then tried to turn around, he'd be stuck in stopped traffic. So, he turned around in front of the blocked westbound traffic (skidding through wet median grass) and headed west. In the process, those of us heading east bound had to briefly stop as his actions caused a minor traffic accident going eastbound.
The last I saw of the bad guy in my side-view mirror, he was heading west dodging sheriff vehicles who were turning in front of him to try and stop him.
It turns out that it was one of the longest car chases ever in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. Here's what I found out later via the Internet (when I was at home) about the incident:
|
High-speed chase winds through cities
|
|
Police initially began chasing a robbery suspect in a silver BMW on 35W southbound near Diamond Lake Road at about 12:50 p.m. Police then chased the suspect onto westbound Highway 62, northbound Highway 100, and then onto eastbound on 694, where the chase finally ended 31 minutes later.
VIDEO | FULL STORY
Another news site indicated that the bad guy first car-jacked the BMW around 7:30 AM and then later robbed a Walgreens store: Story
Both stories did not indicate that the bad buy went east, then west, and then back east again on I-694 before before being caught. Of course I was able to "fill in the blanks" and help you (and the media) understand officially what really happened on I-694. (grin) |
The drive back to the warehouse was without further incident (in other words--boring!) Grin.
I told Mr. N back at the warehouse of the chase and mentioned to him that I was toying around with stopping the bad guy with the truck. But then I thought to myself "what would Mr. N think about that?" We had a good chuckle as he mentioned that "safety" was something that he'd be thinking about.
Tomorrow morning I'll be headed for a delivery in the Chicago, IL area and then perhaps setting out for a Friday morning delivery after that.
miles driven = 571
9:53:59 PM
back to top |
