News

May Hit of the Month 2023: Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office [IA]

October 11, 2023

By: Zach Madden

Hit of the Month: May 2023

The winners and Nominees for Stop Stick’s Hit of the Month for May 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:

Midwest

Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office
Council Bluffs, Iowa

# of tires deflated: 4
Pursuit Speed: 21-30 MPH
Time of Pursuit: 39 Minutes
Miles Traveled after deployment: 6
Target Vehicle Make: 2014 Chevrolet Impala
Deploying Officer(s):Lt. Marc Freeman

Lt. Freeman’s Tactical Deployment of Stop Stick during a multi-state pursuit of a stolen vehicle resulted in the termination of a vehicle pursuit involving the Omaha Police Department[NE] and the Council Bluffs Police Department [IA] earned our nomination for May’s Hit of the Month.

On May 17 Lt. Freeman and the Pottawattamine Co. Sheriff’s Office were notified of a felony-level pursuit coming across the Nebraska state line and into Iowa. The suspect was wanted at the time in connection with a shooting and a hit-n-run involving a police vehicle.

As Pottawattamine Co. Deputies responded, the suspect vehicle was seen entering a casino parking garage. As the pursuing units and deputies converged on the garage,an order was given that the Lead Agency requested that no marked vehicles enter the parking structure. Lt. Freeman already in an unmarked patrol vehicle, entered the parking structure to verify that the suspect vehicle was still parked. After confirming the location of the suspect’s vehicle Lt. Freeman exited the parking structure, parked his vehicle, and deployed Stop Stick’s outside the parking garage’s only exit.

The suspect was spotted exiting the Casino by deputies monitoring the garage and notified Lt Freeman to be ready with Stop Sticks.

The suspect began to flee the parking garage at an unsafe speed, nearly hitting a passing vehicle in the garage. As the suspect attempted to exit the casino’s parking garage Lt. Freeman pulled his Stop Sticks in front of the suspect’s vehicle and retreated back to a concrete barrier. The suspect left with no other options and hit the deployed Stop Sticks flattening all 4 tires. The suspect left with nothing to lose continued to flee on rims at a slow speed. Council Bluffs Police Department picked up the now slow-speed pursuit, as the suspect attempted to flee back to the Nebraska State border, where State police were waiting. The suspect now seeing his way was blocked, attempted to turn the car back around and return to the Iowa side, and in a last-ditch effort tried to flee on foot, only to be captured by a K9 unit minutes later.

We’ve selected Lt. Freeman and the Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s Office for May’s Hit of the Month, as an agency with a “No-Pursuit” Policy Lt. Freeman was able to safely and effectively deploy Stop Stick’s to intervene in this multi-state, multi-agency pursuit which resulted in reducing the speeds that the suspect was able to flee at, and effectively helping bring a safe end to what could have been a lengthy pursuit

Nominees

East

West Goshen Township Police Department
Westchester, Pennsylvenia

# of tires deflated: 2 (R/Front R/Rear)
Pursuit Speed: 81-90 MPH
Time of Pursuit: 16 Minutes
Miles Traveled after deployment: < 1 Mile
Target Vehicle Make:2021 Kia Soul
Deploying Officer: Ofc. Ryan Kenna

Ofc. Ryan Kenna earned our nomination for his deployment of Stop Stick® during a pursuit of a stolen vehicle, that ended up with the unexpected capture of two individuals involved in a major robbery ring.

On the afternoon of May 22, the West Goshen Township Police Department (WGTPD) initiated a pursuit of a Kia Soul after a License Plate Reader Camera (LPR) alerted officers that the vehicle had been reported stolen.

As WGTPD Officers initiated a traffic stop, the stolen Kia floored it causing WGTPD to initiate a pursuit.

The Driver of the stolen Kia, determined to evade capture, took police on a 20+ mile pursuit involving both Pennsylvania State Police Troops J and K, eventually leading back to West Goshen Township

As the suspect vehicle led pursuing law enforcement back to West Goshen, Ofc. Kenna, was able to deploy Stop Stick® ahead of the returning suspect vehicle, flattening both passenger-side tires, and effectively causing the driver to stop running.

2 subjects were in the fleeing Kia, and upon further investigation, it was discovered that both individuals were associated with a string of armed robberies involving delivery trucks across multiple states and were responsible for over six figures worth of stolen goods

South

Lake County Sheriff’s Office
Tavares, Florida

# of tires deflated: 2 (R/Front, L/Front)
Pursuit Speed: 0-10 MPH
Time of Pursuit: 8 Minutes
Miles Traveled after deployment: 1
Target Vehicle Make: Jaguar SUV
Deploying D/S Labercque

Detective Sergeant Labrecque earned a nomination for May’s Hit of the Month for his Stop Stick® deployment on a stolen luxury vehicle that had been eluding law enforcement for 4 days.

On the evening of May 22^nd, a deputy with the Lake Co. Sheriff’s Office positively identified the stolen vehicle at a traffic light. The deputy, already familiar with the stolen vehicle due to it fleeing LCSO deputies just 3 days prior, chose to follow the suspect rather than initiate a traffic stop.

As the Deputy followed the stolen Jaguar he observed it pull into an apartment complex and drop off an individual, as the suspect exited the apartment complex parking lot he realized he was being followed and attempted to flee. Just as the suspect began to flee the LCSO deputy was able to successfully place a GPS tracking device on the stolen vehicle. Rather than tailing the suspect LCSO deputies monitored the stolen vehicle’s location as.

As the suspect attempted to make their clean get-away D/S Labrecque was able to anticipate the vehicle location and pre-deploy Stop Stick® successfully taking the suspect by surprise and flattening both front tires.

The stolen vehicle was found a short distance away abandoned with the driver nowhere to be seen. Officers noticed a woman walking in the area and initiated contact only to discover she had admitted to being a passenger in the vehicle and was able to give officers a description of the suspect.

As officers continued speaking with the woman, the suspect called her cell phone to tell her to stay where she was, and that he would be coming to get her, once he found a ride and figured out where he was.

As deputies continued to canvas the area a phone call came in from a citizen telling officers that an individual was in their neighborhood asking for a ride that matched the suspect’s description.

Deputies quickly moved in and located the suspect 1 street over from where he had abandoned the stolen vehicle.

Upon further inspection of the stolen vehicle, deputies found drugs, and discovered that the suspect had an invalid driver’s license as well as multiple prior convictions for driving with a revoked license.

The suspect was ultimately charged with Grand Theft Auto, Driving without a license (with knowledge), and drug possession.

D/S Labercque earned May’s Hit of the Month Nomination for this unique deployment utilizing a tracking GPS device to effectively monitor and safely deploy Stop Stick® which resulted in the termination of the pursuit and direct capture of the diver of the stolen SUV.

Read More

West

Safford Police Department
Safford, Arizona

# of tires deflated: 2 (R/Front, L/Front)
Pursuit Speed: 41-50 MPH
Time of Pursuit: 20 Minutes
Miles Traveled after deployment: < 1
Target Vehicle Make: 2021 Chevrolet 2500
Deploying Officer: Shawn Dolan

Officer Dolan and the Safford Police Department earned our nomination for May’s Hit of the Month for Officer Dolan’s deployment on an armed robbery suspect, which led to the direct termination of the pursuit and safe capture of the robbery suspect.

Safford Police responded to an armed robbery call at a Dollar General on the evening of May 12^th, Before the arrival of law enforcement, officers were advised that the suspect had left eastbound in a gold Chevy Pickup.

Witnesses at the scene assisted Safford Police by giving updates on the suspect’s locations as they fled. A lengthy pursuit would ultimately be the suspect’s undoing.

Officer Dolan of the Safford Police Department was able to position himself ahead of the pursuit with enough time to deploy Stop Stick®, and was able to disable the truck’s front tires. Left with no other options, and no way to steer the vehicle, the suspect gave up and was taken into custody without any further incident.

Read More

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