In the '70s through the early 80's I was a cop for a brief spell before joining normal humanity. For openers, there is nothing normal about working in any "emergency services" or "law enforcement." Just the job names are indicative of trauma and stress.
One day as a rookie cop, after completing my night shift, one of the K9-units was customarily taking me home, when the radio squawked out a message: "Control to K9-unit 6, do you copy?" Little did I know that within an hour of hearing that message, I would literally stare death in the face. K9-6 standing by control, the day shift officer responded. "Are you in the vicinity of highway M14. "Affirmative, control." He responded.
"If you head out towards Hillcrest, now, you will be able to head off two caucasian fugitives in a brown Chevy heading your way. They have robbed and seriously assaulted a gas pump attendant and fled the scene, heading towards Hillcrest.
The sergeant looked at me and asked whether I was up for it and naturally I agreed. Soon we were heading towards the Hillcrest turnoff about 10 kilos away to the west of the coastal city of Durban in South Africa, where I lived and worked.
"Control, K9 unit 6 standing down at Hillcrest turnoff." he reported. Control replied: "Our Helo, is tracking the Chevy, it is about 5 kilometers from you now."
As the car passed us, we gave chase. As soon as they spotted us the driver increased their speed. They were no match for our turbo-charged car and soon our car was drawing level with their Chevy. I remember glancing over to our speed indicator and the needle bounced between 100 and 120 m.p.h.
The chevy was on our passenger side and at times, the distance between the two cars was less than a meter. Blue lights flashing and siren howling, I tried to shout for them to pull over. For a brief moment, it seemed like they were going to stop, then with a puff of exhaust smoke, the Chevy lunged forward, lurching dangerously from side to side.
Once again we were alongside and this time The Sargeant handed me his .38 Special service revolver. "Shoot out their tyres." he shouted above the din. I had nano seconds to obey or abort. I chose to show the driver that I was about to shoot out their tyres at 120 miles per hour.
He was stupidly attempting to keep on speeding when I clearly saw his passenger yank the steeringwheel towards the curb. For a split second, the car was airborne, as it hit the curb then it bounced back onto the road, swerving dangerously from side to side. and looked like it was going to overturn, seeing this, we fell back to avoid a possible collision.
Smoke billowing from the tires, the Chevy ground to a halt, ahead odf us. When we got to the car both men held up their hands and surrendered.
After "Mirandizing" them to formally charge them with agrivated assault robbery and the addissional charges of fleeing the scene of a crime, reckless driving and resisting arrest, we had to take them to the Hillcrest Police precinct.
Our dog unit had a small lockable cage in the back and the Sargeant decided to tranport the co-accused in the locked cage, I was escorting the driver at gunpoint.
All went well, driving the few kilometers to the turnoff to Hillcrest precinct, when the perpatrator suddenly gunned the accelerator pedal. We were speeding towards the solid concrete pilon of the flyover to the police station.
"I'm not going to jail, cop, after beating that guy to a pulp, you must be stupid to think I'm going to any jail, I'm going to ram that wall and kill me a pig today. He said and headed for the pilon.
Once again that morning, I had seconds to decide what to do.
"You will experience unimaginable pain a short while before me, are you feeling lucky right now?" I asked as I pushed the cold steel barrel of the Colt .38 "Special" up between his thighs as far as it would go.
The concrete pilon was looming up ahead fast and if anything was to happen, it had to be now! I thought. I dramatically cocked the pistol and prayed that his fear of pain superseded my fear of dying.
With seconds to spare, he stomped on the brakes and stopped mere inches from the pilon. As if from nowhere, the Sargeant suddenly appeared. Leaning through the open window, the sergeant grabbed the driver by the shoulders and roughly yanked him through the open window. and cuffed him.
I asked him, how he could tell what was going on with the Chevy. From the top of the flyover, he noticed the car suddenly start picking up speed and knew the driver was up to something stupid. He instantly grabbed an off duty cop hanging around at the front of the precinct and immediately chased after us.
These two perpatrators had been on the run for robbery and car theft in another state which gave impetus to his threat about not being willing to go to jail.
Happy to be getting home alive, adrenalin pumping, my neighbor greeted me, asking: "So, Andy, how come you are so perky this morning, were you catching some on the job shut-eye?" To which I replied, I was catching something, but it wasn't shut-eye...
"You Will Experience Unimaginable Pain A Short While Before Me." "...
