News

July Hit of the Month 2023: Los Angeles Police Department [CA]

November 20, 2023

By: Zach Madden

Hit of the Month: July 2023

The winners and Nominees for Stop Stick’s Hit of the Month for July 2023.
“Hit of the Month” is Stop Stick, Ltd.’s program to recognize truly outstanding performance results coming from the successful deployment of Stop Stick® Tire Deflation Device in ending pursuits. Every month hundreds of reports are received from across the country documenting successful deployments of Stop Sticks®. These reports detail stories of exceptional police work and proper deployment of the Stop Stick® Tire Deflation Device to bring pursuits to an end safely. Below are the departments that were nominated from the hundreds of submissions, and the ones who have been selected as the “Hit of the Month”.

Winner:

West

Los Angeles Police Department
Canooga Park, California

# of tires deflated: 2
Pursuit Speed: 11-20 MPH
Time of Pursuit: 120 Minutes (2 separate pursuits)
Miles Traveled after deployment: 6 (R/Front L/Fron R/Rear L/Rear + Trailer – 2nd car: R/Front, R/Rear)
Target Vehicle Make: Ford F550, White Box Van
Deploying Officer(s): Officer Rodriguez

Officer Rodriguez of the L.A. Police Department earned our award for July’s Hit of the Month for his deployment, and utilization of Stop Stick during 2 separate vehicle pursuits.

Officer Rodriguez reported that he was responding to an assistance call for an individual that stole a large utility vehicle towing a cement mixer, that was attempting to assault and elude officers.

During the first pursuit, the suspect covered 27 miles before Stop Sticks were authorized.

Officer Rodriguez was able to make 3 separate deployments of Stop Sticks, effectively disabling the stolen utility vehicle, and allowing LAPD to take the suspect into custody with out any further incident.

Officer Rodriguez continues in his report to state that while en-rout back to his agency he found himself staring down another pursuit headed to his exact location.

Quickly thinking, Officer Rodrigues stopped his vehicle grabbed his used set of Stop Sticks, and then deployed them across the road. The pursuit now barrelling towards Officer Rodriguez’s location at a high rate of speed, was almost surprised by law enforcement’s ability to be one step ahead of them. The suspect ultimately ended up hitting the used set of Stop Sticks and losing both driverside tires and loosing control of the vehicle and having to bail out on foot. Officers would soon catch up to the second suspect and take them into custody without further incident.

We’ve selected Deputy Rodriguez as our Hit of the Month winner for July, his utilization of Stop Sticks, and uncanny ability to be able to be in the right position for 2 back to back pursuits resulted in the successful deployment and termination of both pursuits and again stands as a testament to the effectiveness of Stop Sticks even after they’ve already been used.

Supporting Article:
https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/police-pursue-stolen-truck-with-trailer-in-chatsworth/

Nominees

(Honorable Mention)Midwest

Narragansett Police Department
Narraganset, Rhode Island

# of tires deflated: 2 (L/Front L/Rear)
Pursuit Speed: 51-60 MPH
Time of Pursuit: 6 Minutes
Miles Traveled after deployment: < 1 Mile
Target Vehicle Make: 2005 Mini Cooper
Deploying Officer: Ofc. Brandon Gagnon

Ofc Lisewski has earned a Nomination and an Honorable Mention, for July’s Hit of the Month for his Stop Stick® deployment during a pursuit involving a drunk/ drugged driver, speeding directly towards a large festival.

Officer Gagnon’s report states that a pursuit was initiated for a subject who was reported to appear to be drunk or high driving erratically at a high rate of speed. The suspect continued traveling as police pursued at times hitting 100 MPH, making things more difficult was the fact that there was a large festival in town, and the suspect vehicle was headed directly towards the event location.

Knowing that they couldn’t let the pursuit get any closer to the festival and its attendees Officer Gagnon deployed Stop Sticks, successfully flattening both driver-side tires, effectively disabling the vehicle.

The suspect was arrested without any further incident, it was discovered that the individual was wanted on an outstanding warrant, and was charged with 11 additional charges including Drunk Driving, Open Container, and multiple other traffic-related charges.

South

Helfin Police Department
Heflin, Alabama

# of tires deflated: 2 (L/Front L/Rear)
Pursuit Speed: 71-80 MPH
Time of Pursuit: 5 Minutes
Miles Traveled after deployment: < 1
Target Vehicle Make: 2023 Nissan Altima
Deploying Officer: Carson Davis

Officer Davis’ Stop Stick Deployment earned the Helfin Police Department a nomination for July’s Hit of the Month. This deployment came to us from a video submission.

The pursuit originated from a drug-related traffic stop, the suspect refused to comply and a pursuit was initiated.

In the video, the Nissan Altima is seen erratically weaving in and out of rush-hour traffic on the Alabama Highway, as the vehicle approached an overpass Officer Davis deployed his Stop Sticks from the cover of the overpass structure successfully deflating both driver-side tires. The suspect now with only two good tires gave up and was successfully taken into custody without any further incident.

Midwest

Racine County Sheriff’s Office
Racine, Wisconsin

# of tires deflated: 1 (L/Rear)
Pursuit Speed: 100-110 MPH
Time of Pursuit: 10 Minutes
Miles Traveled after deployment: 8
Target Vehicle Make: 2020 Infinity Q5
Deploying Officer: Turkowski

Deputy Turkowski of the Racine County Sheriff’s Department has earned a Nomination for July’s Hit of the Month for his deployment during a highspeed pursuit of a vehicle stolen out of Chicago.

According to Deputy Turkowski’s report and a news article, The pursuit was initiated by the Racine Co. Sheriff’s Deputies in the early morning hours after a Deputy observed the vehicle traveling at a highrate of speed.

Deputies attempted to get the suspect to pull over for the speeding infraction, however, the driver had other plans choosing to hit the gas speeding up to 130 MPH in an attempt to flee.

As the pursuit continued down the highway, the suspect attempted to make the pursuit more difficult by turning off their lights, unfortunate for the suspect rather than making it difficult for police to locate him, he only hindered his ability to see the Stop Sticks he was about to run over that Deputy Turkowski laid out for him.

After hitting Deputy Turkowski’s Stop Sticks the suspect tried to continue the pursuit, that is until their rear driver-side tire fell off causing the suspect to try and make a break for it on foot.

The suspect exited the vehicle and attempted to lose the cops in a cornfield. A perimeter was quickly set up and after about an hour of searching the suspect was found, and taken into custody.

Upon inspection of the vehicle Deputies located a loaded gun with an extended magazine, and discovered that the vehicle was reported stolen out of Chicago just days prior.

Supporting Article: https://www.fox6now.com/news/racine-police-chase-130-mph-speeds-vehicle-stolen

To register for Stop Stick® Hit of the Month, please submit a Deployment Report using the Link: https://stopstick.com/deployment-report/

You can be considered for Video of the year by uploading Dashcam, or Bodycam footage after submitting your Deployment Report.

If you know an officer who should be nominated for Hit of the Month please submit a pursuit report: https://stopstick.com/home/pursuit-reporting