A Florida Highway Patrol dashcam video from one year ago emerged online, showing what police officers should not do when in pursuit of a speeding car.
The police dashcam footage from April 29, 2018, shows the patrol car pulling a U-turn across a grass-covered highway median to go in pursuit of a speeding SUV. Trooper Bryan Zegers then accelerates to more than 140 mph (225 km/h) to catch up with a vehicle going 20 mph (32 km/h) over the speed limit.
Nothing out of the ordinary so far, though some may argue the police officer took too many risks during the U-turn maneuver and the pursuit. He was dedicated to catching the offender, that’s for sure, and he actually managed to do so after hitting 142 mph (229 km/h) in the patrol car.
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Here’s where the unusual part comes. The speeding SUV, which appears to be a Toyota RAV4, decides to stop on the median instead of the shoulder. This being Florida, the grass was obviously bone dry. And you know what does not go well with dry grass? A very hot engine and exhaust system.
As soon as the police cruiser pulled up on the grass-covered median smoke started to rise from under the car. The trooper then reversed a bit, revealing a patch of burning grass. Needless to say, the grass caught fire in the new spot as well and pretty soon the whole thing evolved into a big mess. Apparently, the trooper’s decision-making process wasn’t appreciated down at the Florida Highway Patrol’s headquarters.
“The Florida Highway Patrol is committed to public safety and troopers must balance the need to quickly intercept unsafe drivers while using due care to conduct traffic enforcement activities. In this instance, FHP immediately reviewed the incident and assigned additional training to the responding trooper on May 1, 2018, to improve overall public safety,” Colonel Gene S. Spaulding of the Florida Highway Patrol said in a statement.
That should teach him to not come in too hot – pun definitely intended…