Vengeance of the Freeway Phantom

Chapter 3

The next morning when everyone was finally seated in the Briefing room, Getraer again came in with a very unhappy look. "All right people simmer down, simmer down. The 'Freeway Phantom' hit us again last night for the 3rd day in a row." He had to pause and hold up a hand to quiet down the stir that bit of news created. "Unfortunately, we have another motor officer down. Krieger is listed in serious condition with multiple injuries. From what I've been told, it all happened the same way as the others." He paused very briefly than added, "I cannot begin to tell you how much the Captain wants this guy. The sooner we take him off the road the safer all of us will be." After dispensing this sordid news, he went on with additional information and then he ended the briefing. "Okay, people, hit your beats," he urged and then left the room.

The sound of chairs scraping the floor could be heard as everyone stood to start getting ready to leave the room. Of course, the 'Freeway Phantom' was the main conversation among everybody...well, everybody but Ponch. Sure he was just as disgusted and on the alert as everyone else, but he also had his plans for Friday night that he had to get taken care of. He wanted to take care of it this morning if at all possible. However, he decided to wait until he could catch his prime target outside. He thought it would be safer that way.

Ponch followed his fellow officers as they filed out of the building and began heading for their respective units. Ponch spotted Stephanie standing by her motor. He stepped quickly up to her, but before he dared to speak, he took a cautious look around, "Ah, Steph, could I ask you something?"

"Sure, Ponch, what is it?"

"By any chance are you free Friday night? I'd like to have you come over for dinner. Jon and his...his girlfriend, Melissa are coming over. Maybe it'll help you to get to know Jon and I better---being off duty."

The woman looked thoughtful for a moment, "Sure! Why not?! Sure beats rattling around in my apartment. It'll break up the evening a little bit too. I'd like that, Ponch, thank you."

Ponch gave her his biggest grin, "Terrific!! Around seven? Would that be okay?"

"Sure, that'll be fine. Thanks again!"

"You bet!" Ponch exclaimed. Then as Jon was also sitting there on his bike, Ponch added, "You two be careful out there today. We never know when or where that creep is gonna strike next."

"You too, Ponch!" Baker urged as his friend turned to leave, "You too!" With that they started their motors signaling that the conversation was over. It was time for Jon and Stephanie to get going.

Ponch knew he'd better clear out before Getraer saw him still there too. So he quickly got on his bike and hit the road.

All officers whether on motorcycles or in cruisers kept their eyes open so as to watch out for the 'Freeway Phantom'. Everyone was on continual lookout for any vehicles that looked sporty or racy enough to suit their suspect.

It was later in the morning when a visual was made of a suspect vehicle. Bonnie decided to check out the sporty vehicle that was just ahead of her. She flipped on the overhead signaling the driver to pull over. Not knowing how the person behind the wheel would react, and just in case this could be the suspect she checked the distance between her cruiser and the car she wanted to stop. She didn't intend to unwittingly put herself in a trap--even though it was motorcycle officers the 'Phantom' seemed to be focusing on. Apparently, the driver didn't see her lights, so she flipped on her siren just for a moment, which naturally got the desired reaction. She saw the driver check out the rearview mirror, then flick on the turn signal to show that the car was moving onto the shoulder; Bonnie followed suit. As the officer cautiously stepped up to the driver's window, she found a young lady at the wheel. Bonnie silently breathed a sigh of relief, but that didn't mean she let down her guard.

"Officer, I wasn't speeding. Is something wrong?" the girl asked.

Bonnie couldn't help but smile, "No, Miss, you weren't speeding. We've had a lot of hit and run accidents on the freeways lately involving cars similar to yours, is all. Could I see your license, registration and insurance, please?"

"Umm, sure," she handed over the requested paperwork.

"I'll be right back." Bonnie returned to her car to radio dispatch, "LA 15 7 Charles. I need a check on a California reg. along with file and driver's record." She gave the information to the dispatcher so she could get the young lady checked out. LA came back that she was clean and the car definitely was hers. That was what Bonnie really wanted to find out.

"Here's your papers back," Bonnie told her as she returned back to young lady in the car. After speaking briefly with her, Bonnie sent her on her way and went back to her own car. All the officers were feeling a little more than jumpy about this ongoing 'Phantom' situation and that naturally included Bonnie.

With the suspect never using his own car, but always managing to steal one for each 'accident', the officers realized that they more than likely had to catch this guy in the act, somehow--preferably before another officer was injured. The question that remained was---how?

Stephanie and Jon were kept pretty busy themselves that day. It seemed as though people knew it was their beat and drivers just wanted to see how long it would take before they got caught speeding or stopped for a mechanical violation of some kind. Well, that's what the two motorcycle officers were beginning to think anyway.

Then LA came over the radio, "All units in the vicinity of 405, robbery suspect driving a silver Oldsmobile, partial California reg. of 7 Union, Sam, left scene two minutes ago heading eastbound." the dispatcher then gave what description they had of the suspect, which unfortunately, wasn't much.

Jon and Stephanie stayed on the road they were on knowing the suspect was heading their way. They kept their eyes on the eastbound traffic, hoping they'd catch a visual of him. Also, they hoped that another officer would be even closer.

It was only minutes when they heard Baricza's traffic, "LA 15 7 Adam in pursuit of possible robbery suspect."

"Ah, good ol' Bear, right place, right time," Jon gratefully told his partner.

It wasn't long before they picked up on the sound of Bear's siren. They continued on till they found an emergency exit and then sat there till both cars were in sight. Then they joined in the pursuit with lights and siren.

Their robbery suspect was driving like a lunatic. All pursuits are dangerous, not only for the officers involved, but also for any innocent civilian bystanders who just simply happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time--and when those being pursued cut in and out of traffic or do some other dumb fool thing that endangers everyone around them, split decisions have to be made.

Bear was still in the lead when he thought about doing the maneuver that could once and for all end this pursuit. The driver had just managed to exit the freeway and was now entering an even more dangerous area, as the pavement had changed to two-lane traffic. On top of all that, the posted traffic speeds were reduced to a slower speed. "LA, 15 7 Adam, requesting permission to end pursuit by attempting the pit maneuver on the pursuit vehicle."

"Stand by 7 Adam..." The dispatcher wanted to check with her sergeant on this one. She quickly filled him in on what was going on up to this point. Then she came back with, "7 Adam, LA, go ahead and attempt to end the pursuit using your discretion."

Bear felt that now was the time--while there was fewer cars on the road and before the suspect managed to get back on the freeway. It was now or never. It was a tricky maneuver and even though he had done it before every circumstance was different. He spotted an area he felt the maneuver would work and brought his car up to the backside of the suspect's vehicle on the driver's side. Then he bumped the car hard--so hard that it spun around, hit the curb and flipped over. The chase had ended without causing any harm to other innocent drivers. The officer quickly stopped his car and exited when the suspect--who had managed to climb out of his flipped vehicle--tried to run away.

As soon as Jon and Stephanie rolled up behind Baricza's unit they baled off their motorcycles and joined the foot chase. Bear chased the robbery suspect down and tackled him to the ground. Naturally, the fugitive fought him with all his might. That is until Jon and Stephanie joined in the fracas and successfully pinned him down so the handcuffs could be placed on his wrists.

Bear picked the prisoner up off the ground, "Mister...you're going to...jail for a lo-ong time." The man just snarled at him, not saying a word. As the officer walked back to put his captive in the back seat of his patrol car, he told the two with a little bit of heavy breathing, "Thanks...guys...for the...assist."

"Glad we could help. Just remember, you owe us one," Stephanie teased. Suddenly though a more serious look came over her face, she continued as she turned to walk away, "At least none of us got hurt because of this fool." Their job of assisting Bear was done, she returned to her motor--where she patiently waited for her partner.

The two male officers watched her walk away. "Man, I sure wish she'd let someone in on what's troubling her," Jon commented. It wouldn't be like we're trying to pry in her life or anything like that. Maybe we could help her get through it..."

"Yeah, but maybe she just wants to handle it herself for now."

"You're probably right," Baker agreed, "But from what I see, she's really not handing it alone all that well," he added and then went back to his motor and his partner.

Ponch had a pretty decent shift going for him. Other than the usual traffic stops and motorist assists, nothing really hair-raising had occurred. Well, as the saying goes, 'all good things must come to an end'.

At the moment Ponch was traveling down a two lane road. He had been off the freeway now for a number of miles--when LA came over the radio.

"Any units in the vicinity..." the dispatcher began.

But even before LA got to the point of her traffic, what Ponch saw up ahead made him shake his head. Traffic had stopped dead in its tracks. Ahead of him was a semi-tractor trailer that had somehow jack-knifed and was crosswise in the road. As it turned out, he was right 'in the vicinity' of LA's traffic. The officer quickly grabbed his radio's mic, "LA, 7 Mary 4. I'm on the scene. I'll need additional traffic assistance at my location." He placed his motor in a strategic position and quickly got the stopped vehicles turned around and headed back in the direction they came from. (Not really the best way for an officer to make friends). Before anymore cars came along, he ran up to the rig, "Hey, you all right?!" he asked the driver.

"Yeah, I guess I didn't realize this wouldn't be the best place to make a U-turn."

Ponch's jaw dropped, then he looked down the length of the trailer, 'This thing has got to be over fifty feet long!' he thought to himself. "U-turn sir?"

"Yeah," was the only word the guy said in response.

Ponch turned around in time to see more cars lining up. To his relief though, he also saw Bonnie come rolling up and it wasn't long before she had the traffic turned back around.

"I'll be right back," he told the truck driver and went over to talk with her. "Hey, thanks for the assist."

"No problem. What exactly went wrong here? Anyone hurt?"

"No one's hurt," he assured her. "As for what went wrong...the driver of the rig figured out he was heading in the wrong direction so he decided to make a U-turn."

Bonnie looked at him like he should be committed. "You're joking!" she stated more than asked, and motioned for the next driver to move up and turn back in the other direction.

"Nope, it'll take some time, but we'll get 'im straightened around...somehow."

"Well, let's get a move on! I've got a date tonight!" After that statement, she winked and then continued working on the traffic. Once she got the cars all turned around, she positioned herself in order to prevent any other cars to enter the area.

Ponch simply smiled, shook his head and went back to the rig. "Okay, you think you can get this thing turned around by yourself or are we going to have to call in the artillery."

"Well, it'll take some expert driving and some help from you to keep me from backing up too far and dropping into that ditch there. I'm carrying a forty-thousand pound payload back there and if I end up down in that ditch even a little..."

Ponch held up his hand to stop him, "We'll need more than the artillery to get you out."

"Yeah, now Officer, just stay in my mirrors okay, so I know exactly where you're at, at all times."

The guy didn't have to say that more than once. Being smacked by a semi-trailer wasn't exactly on Ponch's list of fun things to do.

With Ponch's expert guidance and some dandy maneuvering the driver managed to get his truck and some fifty-foot trailer facing the direction he wanted to go. It took quite some doing--and traffic was held up the entire time, but when it was finally over both CHP officers and the semi driver breathed a sigh of relief.

Now that the truck was no longer blocking the highway, Ponch relaxed a little. He went over to his motor to get his 'pinch' book out of his saddlebag. Granted, no one was injured, no other cars were involved, but it was just the whole 'reckless endangerment' part of it. He wrote out the citation as he spoke to the driver telling him why he was receiving the ticket. After the ticket was signed and the guy was sent on his way, Ponch and Bonnie returned to Central. It was time to do their reports.

After all that needed to be done was accomplished for the day, the day shift headed home, and gladly left the highways to the afternoon shift.