Running from the Law, just DONT !

[cobra23]

I was sleeping in a chair on the deck in the back yard tonight.. You know one of those great naps when you don't even know you fell asleep? If you don't relate to that you will when you are 50.

I fell asleep with a cool desert breeze blowing, but not so cool that I was chilled. It was a perfect 10 of 10 "old man nap".

I hear a four cylinder sport bike pullin' about 4th gear wide open... Now I think I'm dreamin. It's sounds like it's right next to me on the track, and it wakes me up cause if I was dreamin, I would be riding next to it. It was the strangest feeling. I had track audio going but no video in my head.. so I woke up; something was very wrong.

Well it turned out that as I woke up I heard the Sherriff sirens following it at a very high rate of speed. The were running south on the street behind me, its two lanes wide maybe about a 30 foot wide street. At the end of this 1/4 mile stretch is the Truckee canal, a K-wall stands up next to the canal so cars don't run straight into the water at the end of the street. You can make a hard let turn there, and head out to the highway, but it pretty much looks like a dead end at night.

That bike had to be pushin 100mph, as it went by the back side of my house and who knows how fast when he got to the end of the street by the sound (RPM's verses rate of acceleration) of it. It was that high RPM slower pulling sound like 4th or 5th gear.

Then I hear the sound I have heard on the tracks in Washington many many times....Crrrrrrrrriiiii sskkkki CRUMPPP!

Call me a looke loo, but this sounded bad, and I needed a beer.

So I got in the car, and headed to a mini mart that just happens to route me through this scene. The Police officer has his flashlight out looking at the opposing side of the canal. The bike is upside down, and against the K-wall on the near side at the end of the street. You see there is a hump right before you get to the wall, so at night you would not see it until you were right there on top of it.

There is only one reason he would have his flashlight out.. the rider must have gone over the wall, and flew over the canal, into the bank on the other side. I hope this did not happen but it sure looks that way.

I feel so sorry for some people. Now if he was a hard criminal, and running for a big reason, I have no apathy what so ever, none.

Generally however it is a young guy thinking he is going to out-run a speeding ticket. He is hurt I guarantee it by the look in the deputies eye as he waved me on away from the scene. Maybe worse. I know that look I saw it in Iraq many times. So if something really bad happened relating to that chase even the officer will live with some form of guilt forever.

Lets hope he just low sided it and the Deputy was spun up from the chase, but I doubt that is all that occurred.

When I was young I may have "eluded" a time or two; it is risky and foolish. If you are young, and smart enough to frequent this forum for tips and advice...heed this: NEVER RUN FROM THE LAW. It is just not worth the risk.

I sure hope that if this was just a young kid thinking he could out run the law, he is alright.

The scene however did not look like the outcome was good.

[RichVee4]

 One heck of a story and I hope the outcome wasn't to terrible.  I second your statement, running can be much worse than getting a ticket.  LEO's are very skilled and can ride/drive near the vehicle limit so you have to exceed that level to even try getting away.  Plus they have radios  

[dub]

At least he didn't take anyone else out with him. I wont be donating to his memorial fund.

[GreenMachine]

Your story made me think about my '09 hwy 88 incident, where I was accused of evading, but not arrested.  Oh those naive days...

When the maniacal CHP in Jackson that was harassing me minutes before turned his lights on from about 1/2 mile from my tail, I thought what now!?  This guy's got a bur up his butt for writing someone a ticket and since I was in a pack of cars and motorcycles merging at the end of a two west-bound lane passing zone, I just wanted off the road.  Whether he was after me, one of the other cars or motorcycles passing me and the cars in front of me or simply needing to get to an accident up ahead, I had no idea.  So I pulled off the road onto an adjacent side street and stopped.  Of course, when I looked back in my mirrors he was pulling down the same street behind me, lights flashing.  He was after me.  For what though?  I wasn't speeding, I did pass one of the cars who wouldn't negotiate a merge next to me, even though they were ahead of me and should have merged that way, so WTF?  In fact, I was headed to my parent's house that day in the central valley and was carrying shower tile samples in my backpack.  I had taken hwy 88 because it was a different route, one of many I could take, and wasn't in any particular hurry.  There wasn't a time set on when I needed to arrive, so I was just riding passively.  Besides, in order to ride hwy 88 at a fun pace, a sweeping road for the most part, you'd need to crank it up to 75 - 80 MPH.

He came out of his vehicle screaming at me like I was his child who had just crashed the family car, I could not get a word in edgewise.   He was threatening to arrest me and impound my motorcycle for evading him.  He went on about how this is an 'open range' road and how I was riding dangerously, yes dangerously, according to his radar at 63 MPH in an unmarked 55 MPH corner.  That's what was fueling his excited state of mind.  Yes, that's above the 55 MPH posted speed limit, but any slower and I'd be leading a train of locals down the hill, probably all screaming at me for holding them up.  So a rock and a hard place.  It was egregiously too fast for the law enforcement officer and too slow for the flow of traffic.  Whatever.

Then he started in on me to admit that I was speeding intentionally and when he did that I got a defensive crazy look on my face.  Wait a minute!  I'm on my way to my parent's house to show them tile samples for a bathroom remodel.  I have no set timetable.  I'm not riding with other riders on bike's like mine, racing through here and I wasn't speeding or passing cars.  In fact, you just saw those other two motorcycles pass me.  So what in the world gives you the impression I was speeding?  AND, you just were following me, tailgating me down the hill for the past 15 minutes, driving just feet from my rear wheel and I monitored my speed at 53 MPH the whole time to be sure that I was not exceeding the speed limit and you did not pass me even in the passing zones.  Like I told you, I have no timetable and this is a boring road, but it's a pretty road, which is why I selected it today.  Then when I pulled over earlier, you came along side me with your stern warning to "slow it down."  And when I asked you to not drive so close to my rear tire, you repeated, "slow it down."  You've got nothing on me.  

I was thinking this is beyond craziness.  53 MPH in a 55 MPH zone and I'm being warned to Slow It Down???  

Maybe it was my flailing arms or crazy face, but probably combined it set this guy onto another level of outrage.  When he erupted and ran back to his vehicle for his citation pad, yelling "you're getting a ticket," I was half relieved that he'd finally made a decision and I wouldn't be put through the persecution of listening to him scream anymore.

Yes, he cited me for 63 MPH in a 55 MPH zone, which I fought.  When I presented my case in Amador county court the judge yelled at me for doing 53 MPH in a 55 MPH, because below the speed limit is also against the law.  Besides, the officer says that he showed I was doing 63 MPH when he first spotted me.  Case closed.  NEXT!  Mind you, this was at the height of the great recession and budgets were cut to the bone.  Every county and agency was looking for any way they could to increase revenue.  Even the teller at the county courthouse had sympathy for me as I wrote out my check.  She said I was lucky for getting off light.  

Indeed!  The world of crazy.

This is how I present it to myself anytime I cross paths with a LEO, whether they have their lights on or are just passing by.  I am a revenue source and they are the collectors.  If I try hard enough, they may not subjectively pick me out of the lot as an excuse to add revenue.  I avoid them at all costs.  It's about not giving them a reason to make me a priority in their world.  If I can do that, I'll have many years and miles of enjoyable riding.

This doesn't mean I may outrun or have outrun a LEO unknowingly.  That's something that would be technically impossible to quantify.  But when I see a LEO gesturing for me to pull over, I will do so every time.  I know what they want.

[cobra23]

Green Machine..

I totally get your story and it is why I avoid the California. I don't want to pay any more in "taxes" (that's what speeding fines are) than I already do.

I have been very fortunate in dealing with Johnny Law. I have been pulled over a few times, they treat me well. Except for one guy on I-80. He was on a motorcycle. I followed him for about 20 miles, and then passed so that he would be more comfortable seeing who was behind him. He pulled me over straight away, young guy.

Very puffy he was, the little fella was angry and went on and on, wanted to know why I thought I should let him see who was following him. So I told him I know many LEO and they don't like people hanging out around them for too long, so I run up wave, and pass. I was probably doing 76 MPH on the interstate when I passed him. It was just a hello.

Funny part is he gets kinda uppidy actually REAL uppdity at this point and asks why I "think" I know so much about law enforcement. So I tell him I have trained with LEO. I have many friends in Washington State who are officers.... Oh boy..more maaddddeeeeerrr the young fella is now.... The he says with a snicker  ... "what are you a Security Guard or something?".. finally I said... Sir I was an Infantry Platoon SGT patrolling on the streets of Baghdad for a year... I know about your job, and what it can be.

As if by "magic" all the puffy shitzines disappeared, and turned into ... well he was now embarrassed. He said only one thing.. " Have a nice day sir".... then he walked away. It was strange indeed.

Revenue.. its all about revenue. If it was not they would be pulling Soccer moms over for talking on the Cell phone while putting on their make-up.

[cobra23]

If anyone sees a news article about a motorcycle eluding the sheriff in Fernley last night 30 July. Post a link.

This morning I drove up to the wall he hit, and the top string of barb wire was broken above the wall, meaning he went thru one strand of barb wire as he shot over the wall. There was a long skid mark, and it disappeared as he wnet over the crown in the street, so he got air just creating the crown on the way thru.

Then straight into the wall.

I think it was fatal.

Still cannot find a word about it anywhere.

[RichVee4]

Could this be the story?

http://www.rgj.com/story/news/2014/06/14/motorcycle-crash-in-fernley/10537159/

[cobra23]

5:14 p.m. PDT June 14, 2014

That one was from June 14. This occurred July 30 or 31

[GreenMachine]

Cobra, do those two streets have names?  That sometimes helps if we're using a Web search engine.

[rg500nut]

I met the sheriff from Quincy one time for crossing double yellow.  Fine was $385.  How fair was that?

[cobra23]

Miller, and North Canal Rd.

[RichVee4]

This was on channel 2 site today.   Guess he wont make that mistake again.  Hate hearing about fatal accidents, Motorcyclists don't need anymore bad press.

http://www.ktvn.com/story/26192157/nhp-investigates-fatal-motorcycle-accident-in-fallon

[cobra23]

RIP

[GreenMachine]

Cobra, did you call to add your observation to the record?  It sounds like your take and what was written about it are spot on.

[NevadaWolf]

Wasn't the original post from Fernley though? The Channel 2 story is on the fatality here in Fallon on Friday night.


Which, , means there were two fatalities recently.



I am surprised though about the report saying that New River Parkway has no outlet. While, yes, the sign in still in place, the completion of the dairy plant opened that road to connect between Harrigan and Wildes.