Thanks...I'm sure this will be of interest to some CHP vehicle owners, since CA came down on the Platemeister and they quit selling.

I sent this vendor pictures and information for every plate I need for my SSP cars. He is going to look at everything and get back to me possibly tomorrow. His prices are reasonable and he is confident he can probably do most anything. I will be very excited if he can replicate the Blue and Gold MSP 1130 plates I need for the 89.

I sent the information directly through his email address and not through the ebay system.

Jim,

Shoot me his email...I'd like to see if he can do an old FHP plate for the '85.

:2thumbs:

New Story
 

I haven't posted any stories for a long time, but after getting those plates, and working on 0327 today, I feel inspired.

One hot summer afternoon, July or August, 0255 and I were patrolling on freeway Interstate 5 when I decided to stop a speeder. We were in the middle of nowhere, 30 or 40 miles from civilization, so there was no fill or backup available anyway, but since the subject vehicle had an out of state plate I gave dispatch my location and asked for a rolling check for wants as we prepared to stop the vehicle. Within seconds dispatch came back that the vehicle was reported to be stolen.

I activated the red spotlight and to my surprise, the violator yielded almost immediately to the shoulder and stopped abruptly. 0255 was not even completely stopped when the sole-occupant driver exited the vehicle and took off running into an almond orchard next to the highway. I put out that I was in foot pursuit, yanked 0255's parking brake on and took off after him. He had a couple hundred feet head start as I headed into the orchard. It was a very hot day, 105 degrees in the shade, and although I was wearing the short sleeve shirt, I was also wearing a protective vest. Soon I was sweating like a toad and although I was young and in very good shape, I was running out of steam in a short time. I knew this was going to be an endurance event. There was really nowhere to run or hide; whoever gave up first would lose. Fortunately I could keep the perp in visual sight as I closed on him, and the trees weren't big enough to give him a chance to hide and ambush me if he had a weapon. Finally, he became exhausted and collapsed flat on his back in the dirt. As I ran up to him I could see him laying there, beet red, soaked with perspiration, gasping for breath. He didn't have the energy left to fight if he even had wanted to. He gasped "Just go ahead, shoot me!"

"Nope", I replied, "Way too much paperwork." I rolled him onto his stomach, cuffed him, got him up on his feet, searched him, then began the march back to 0255. Towed the recovered veh, then we headed to Los Banos city jail.

From the time the foot pursuit started until the time we were back must have been 20 minutes or more. Both the subject veh and 0255 had sat there on the shoulder, running the whole time. I wonder how that must have looked to passing traffic, the two vehicles sitting there with no one around, no one even in sight. I was glad no one stopped to take 0255 for a test drive. The truckers probably knew what was going on, they always did...for 20 miles in each direction.

These cars have amazing stories but most are unknown. Thanks for sharing so many of yours.

Lol...great story. I was ina few foot pursuits in my career. If I didn't get them in the first hundred yards...I didn't get them at all. Even the fat ones.....lol

Thanks for sharing that story! :thumbsup:

Yes, every once in a while we talk about that when I am working in LE. Now that I'm older if they want to run, they're gone. Bring in the tracking dogs. Foot pursuits are a young man's job...

I had four foot pursuits in 2008.

All drunk....REAL drunk....I got all four but was only 100% that year because 9 years ago my agency still allowed us to use the Taser on mopes running from us. That changed after CPD tased a guy running and he fell on the pavement and broke out all his teeth...

The very first time a Taser was used in my department was when I Tased an idiot on the roof of a house because he was refusing to come down. Watching him roll off the roof and fall into a bunch of thorny rose bushes will be forever etched in my brain. His screams were epic......like music to my ears....

Of course the paperwork was endless....and the excessive use of force investigation sucked.....but the local news channels provided us with some awesome video.....

the last 8 years of my career the only "foot" pursuits I participated in were the ones where the mope ran down the road and I could drive my car....

The Day 0255 Almost Died
 

Mac88chp posted some photos of wrecked SSP 0391 today. Looking at those photos reminded me of a summer evening in Los Banos when 0255 (and me along with it) almost met our end by traffic collision.

It was evening on Interstate 5, about two hours left until sunset, traffic was light, when I observed a motorcycle stopped on the shoulder ahead. As I pulled in behind I noticed the rider had some tools and was working on it. I exited and asked if he needed any assistance; I'd be happy to call for a tow or give him a ride into town (about 25 miles) if that would help. He declined, stating that he had the tools and was sure he could fix it and would be on his way soon.

I returned to 0255 and seat belted in, then was making an entry into my activity log when I looked up into the rear-view mirror and observed a vehicle partially in the right lane approaching, at freeway speed, that had drifted about 3/4 of the way onto the shoulder. The driver was looking to the right and down, was distracted, and apparently had his left hand on the steering wheel so when he turned and looked to the right it caused the wheel to steer slightly to the right and now the vehicle was coming directly at us at freeway speed. I knew that the small, lightweight Mustang did not have enough size and mass to protect me from such an impact. I knew that when it hit it was going to be all over; we were likely both finished. As the errant vehicle approached, I had only enough time to say "Oh, shit!"... and then, miraculously, at the last possible moment in time the driver looked up and saw what was about to happen. I'll never forget the look of surprise and terror on his face as he yanked the steering wheel to the left. The vehicle fishtailed, with the rear end swerving toward us, but the change in direction was just enough so that it didn't hit 0255. The driver overcorrected to the right and his vehicle again went almost sideways, in the other direction. After a few more swerves he got it under control again. I composed myself and immediately chased it down and made a stop. I needed to know why this happened; perhaps this driver was impaired.

He pulled over immediately. As I made contact, the driver was visibly shaking. Frankly, I don't know who was more traumatized; me or him. I said, "We both know what happened back there. Why?" He stammered and began apologizing profusely, stating he had dropped something onto the floor on the right side and was leaning over to pick it up and didn't realize his vehicle had drifted. He was obviously not intoxicated, and his documents checked out, so I told him I didn't think he needed a lecture on paying attention and avoiding distractions; the point had already been made. He then went on his way.

I walked back to 0255, waiting patiently as always, and I thought again about how close we had come. 0255 would have been destroyed, and if I hadn't been killed I probably would wish afterwards I had been. Even if I survived it would have been the end of my career and just about everything else. I needed a large coffee after that so we headed North to the Santa Nella truck stop, contemplating the meaning of life the whole way.

Close call! I have yet to hear of an officer being seriously injured in an '82. I am waiting on the newspaper article about the 0391 crash to find out what exactly happened.

Yikes! I'm glad the driver was able to react in time.

Yikes, glad you dodged that bullet. I would have also needed a change of undershorts afterwards!

That was by far the closest I ever came to being killed by traffic. There were other potential times, but I was out of the vehicle and could see it coming and was able to get out of the way.

CHP trains hard and always emphasizes to be aware of traffic. That's the main reason for the passenger-side approach on freeway car stops.

That evening in Los Banos there was absolutely nothing I could do. I was not exaggerating when I said in the story that I thought it was all over, we were done.

Very scary!

The Jerk (or Our One and Only Citizen Complaint)
 

I took 0327 out for a drive today to shake off the rust and the experience of being behind the wheel of an 82 SSP again brought back many memories, including the time 0255 and I stopped a speeder who attempted to assault me, later filed a complaint, and ultimately was thwarted by state-of-the-art technology that was way ahead of its time in light of the body camera debates and deployments we are seeing today. How’s that for an intro?
It was just after noon, a sunny day, 0255 and I were working on the East side of the Los Banos area, rolling Westbound on State Route 152 about 20 miles East of Los Banos, when we observed a high roller pass by heading Eastbound. A “high roller” is a speeder moving greatly in excess of the speed limit; there is no exact definition but 30-40 mph or more is about right.
We accelerated to the next cross road and made a U turn, then went after him. He apparently had not seen us as he passed by because he continued at high speed; I had to peg 0255 at the top end (~117 mph) to overtake the vehicle and it still took 4 or 5 miles. I had only a visual estimate but between 90 and 95 was about right. He slowed and took the exit ramp to another State highway and I was on him; made the stop on a wide gravel shoulder area and walked up to make contact on the driver’s side.
The driver was an older, very large (heavy) man. It was strange; instead of just rolling the window down he opened the driver’s door about halfway and turned to face me as I approached. My cheerful “Good Afternoon” was answered with a string of obscenities: What is my problem, why the hell am I stopping him, etc., ad nauseum. I immediately reached down to my belt and turned on my microcassete tape recorder, state-of-the-art technology at the time, to capture the audio of this event. I let him run his mouth until he seemed to be temporarily finished, then asked for and got his registration and license. I walked back to 0255 and wrote out the citation. I returned and, standing in the open V of the door, handed it to him. A few more curses; I explained to him that he did have to sign the cite, if he wanted to contest it he could do so in court. To my surprise he did sign. I was thinking this was too easy, but then things took a turn for the worse. He pointed to some open space in the body of the citation and said “I’m going to write right here that you’re a goddammed liar!” I told him that the citation was an official court document and that he could not do that. He replied “Oh, yes I am!” I said “No, you’re not!” and reached down to remove the cite book and my pen out of his hands. He held on to them and a brief struggle ensued. I yanked them free and stepped back. Enraged, he shouted another string of obscenities as he turned even more in my direction and attempted to kick me with his right leg, coming across the front of his body and past his left leg. It was ridiculous, he was slow, and I simply stepped out of the way and watched as his foot flailed in the air.
Technically, he had assaulted me, and I could have arrested him. But he simply wasn’t worth it. If I arrested him I’d have to wrestle with him and he’d probably have a heart attack then I’d have to do CPR or explain why I didn’t. I had the signed cite. I tore off his copy of the citation, dropped it into his lap, and walked back to 0255. I could hear him shouting all the way back to 0255.
I didn’t think anything more about it until about 3 weeks later; my Sergeant told me “we needed to talk”. “Mr. Smith”, it seemed (the name is changed to protect the guilty) had come into the office and filed a citizens complaint against me. This was the high-roller from a few weeks back. Mr. Smith had already provided his version of the narrative: He was minding his own business, driving at the speed limit, when for no reason I stopped him. To make matters worse, when he protested that he had done nothing wrong and I gave him the ticket anyway, I physically assaulted him, then threatened him.
I told the Sergeant my side, then produced the audio tape of the incident. I had captured the entire event. He took the tape and said he’d get back to me.
A few days later the Sergeant gave me back the tape. He said he had listened to it carefully, then contacted Mr. Smith and asked him to come back in. At that meeting he asked Mr. Smith to go over his version again, then asked some questions. Mr. Smith, apparently emboldened and thinking he had me on the ropes, laid the BS on even thicker. When he was finished it almost sounded as though for no reason I had practically beaten and left him for dead along the roadway. The Sergeant played the tape for Mr. Smith’s benefit. Mr. Smith’s normally-red face turned ashen. Then, as the Sgt. told me, he essentially threw Smith out of the office. I never heard anything about it again, and the complaint was classified “Unfounded” which is CHP’s way of saying it was BS. But I was sure glad I had that microcassette recorder. It saved me a lot of trouble. In today’s society body cams are essential imo.
That was the one and only citizen complaint I ever received in my 5 years with CHP.

Holy cow! It's great you had that "technology"! Love the stories.

Yes, it was a glimpse into the future and as primitive as it was comparison to today, it did its job and saved me that time.

But there was at least one other technology in use, at least experimental, way before that. I was looking at the website CHP Radio Systems and was impressed by the CHP's experimental "dash cam" from the late 1930's shown in the pic below. I applaud their willingness to apply new technology, but no wonder this never saw deployment.

I could just imagine stopping the high roller, then telling him "Hold on, I gotta go start the dash cam".

Then knowing that I have a limited amount of cam time, perhaps telling him "Hurry up and get all of your cursing done because we're about out of film" (assuming it had audio). Or even "If you're going to do anything crazy, like try to kick me, could you hurry up? There's only 90 seconds of film left!" LOL

Time Travel
 

That was quite an innovation for that time. Looking at all the interior - the "Safety" features we enjoy just were not there. Can you imagine a roll over with no belts or bags??? WOW!

I do like that uniform and man oh man what a hat.:thumbsup:

For some reason I missed your latest story. Thanks for sharing! :)

The spartan interior, the harpoon-style steering column, and the hat...that hat...Ralph Kramden would have given anything for a hat like that, and Barney Fife would be jealous!

The Birds
 

I can't do much else while 0327 is in the shop; so I was thinking about a week or so ago when I was driving 0327 at night to fill up on gas and we ran over a skunk. Not intentionally, but the varmint ran out there and despite evasive action it was history (took 3 days for the odor under 0327 to go away).

But that reminded me of the time when 0255 and I surprised a group of roadkill-eating birds in Los Banos. "Surprised" because they weren't expecting a vehicle to roll up on them at the speed we typically operated when doing a beat check.

I’ve racked up a lot of windshield time, on a lot of roads, and have seen plenty of roadkill. There are certain places where there is more than usual and one of those is State Route 152 about 25 miles west of Los Banos, CA. SR 152 comes down from the hills past a large water storage and hydroelectric facility then flattens out for about 5 miles. In one section of this flat stretch there are prairie dog holes everywhere on both sides of the highway. As you can guess they liked to cross the road and some never made it. So there was always plenty of roadkill available for local scavenger birds, and it attracted many. Various birds; the smaller ones would fly in and get what they could until the bigger vultures or hawks, whatever they were, would come in and take over. What always amazed and entertained me was how the birds were quite used to feasting on the roadkill as vehicles approached at high speed and would wait until the last possible second, as if on cue, all flying away at precisely the same time and somehow avoid impact. How do they do it? Is it an evolved feeding skill? Do they like to play chicken?

One hot afternoon 0255 and I were making a beat check. Traffic was very light, we were cruising at 85 mph; mirages danced above the roadway ahead, and the roadkill feeders were out in force. I could see a group of several large birds feasting in our lane ahead; these were big, ugly birds perhaps vultures. We were bearing down on them fast and I marveled at how casually they pecked away at the roadkill, looking nonchalant even as their fate approached at 125 feet per second. Just as we were about to hit them they bailed but perhaps due to our higher speed their calibration was a little off and they were late. They just barely made it over the top of 0255’s hood except for one. He flew right into 0255’s grill. There was a loud bang and a cloud of feathers went up. I looked at the rearview mirror and saw the bird landing in the traffic lane among a swirl of feathers.

When I got back to the office I inspected 0255. I figured it might need a new grill because the impact was considerable. Large gobs of feathers were stuck in the grill, but fortunately there was no damage. After cleanup, 0255 was good to go again.
The irony was not lost: the roadkill hunter had become the roadkill.

The New "CHIPS" Movie
 

This is off-topic so moderators, feel free to delete this post if you wish. I saw the new CHIPS movie last night. Now I remember well the 1977-1983 TV series, and while I thought at the time it was campy and a little goofy, plus unrealistic, it was harmless. And it did nothing to discredit the CHP or its employees. People used to ask me about the show and depending on the situation, I would either say "Well, the unforms are authentic" or "Yes, the job is just like that, one big party, and I can't believe sometimes I am getting paid to have so much fun!" then laugh and tell the truth.

But this mess of a movie, the new CHIPS movie, was the furthest thing imaginable from reality. Nothing was realistic about the movie, not anything at all. Not even the uniforms. Every member of the patrol portrayed in that movie was at best unprofessional, and at worst absurdly disgraceful, including the two stars who couldn't have even passed the written exam (the initial hurdle in the hiring process) let alone last one day on the job.

I watched the movie with my wife and oldest (teenage) son and was frankly embarrassed. Now there will probably never be another production made about the Patrol because this one has likely destroyed the concept.

It was only briefly in the theaters so if you want to see it you can get it on DVD now; at Redbox it's $1.50 but it isn't the money as much as the time you will never get back wasted on viewing it.

I knew it was a comedy and am good with humor but this one wasn't even funny. It was just lame.

Yeah that movie had a lot of people talking about how horrible it was. A big bomb at the box office. Haven't viewed it and don't have any desire to see it.

BTW, excellent progress on your SSP! Keep it up!

I heard nothing good about that movie. :thumbsdown:

The Tomato Trucks
 

Late last night I was driving home on a long, lonely stretch of Interstate freeway 5, which runs the length of the West Coast from Washington State to the border with Mexico. I was just outside Stockton, CA, about 30 miles South of Sacramento and in the heart of the great Central Valley of California. I passed a big rig, a tractor pulling two flatbed trailers. On each trailer was a large, plastic or fiberglass tub, filled with just harvested, ripe tomatoes enroute to the cannery.

Seeing that tomato hauler brought back memories of the tomato harvest each summer in the Los Banos area, where for a few weeks in late July and early August almost continuous truck traffic of tomato haulers dominated highway 5, rushing their loads from extensive fields near Los Banos to the canneries in Modesto and Stockton. Those tomatoes were ripe and juicy, destined to be made into tomato paste or canned.

One early morning 0255 and I were working day shift when we were dispatched to a reported collision on Northbound I-5 between two of these tomato haulers that had somehow tangled up and according to the report had made a big mess. I knew this would be a serious hazard situation and being some distance away, I turned on the porch light (rear flashing amber), activated the wig wags and accelerated to 110, reaching the scene in a short time.

What a mess! Two tubs had broken loose and spilled their loads of about 40,000 total lbs of very ripe tomatoes all over both lanes for a couple hundred feet. I checked to see if anyone was injured, then immediately turned to traffic control and flared off all northbound traffic (fortunately light) into the dirt center divider as these tomatoes were quite slippery when crushed and presented a real hazard. I called dispatch for a medium rig tow to get the trailers back on their wheels then called for DOT to help me figure out what to do with the huge mess. We had to get those tomatoes off of and away from the traffic lanes; a sweeper truck not only wouldn’t be big enough but it would just make a bigger mess. They came up with a great idea: Get the closest available Fire unit to simply hose the mess off the highway. Fire responded quickly and it worked perfectly; in minutes the gooey mess was well off the roadway. Trailers were righted and in a short time the trucks were on their way, limping off missing a lot of product. Someone would have some ‘splainin to do to their boss later that day.

Once again 0255 and I had served the motoring public, faithful to the oath we took: Whether in rain, sleet, snow, or thousands of pounds of gooey tomatoes…

Love hearing the stories:thumbsup:
Thanks for sharing:cool:

Great memory. Those tomato haulers used to also travel SR152 up and over the Pacheco Pass when the canneries were still operating in the Santa Clara Valley. In the early '80s I lived in Sunnyvale and used to commute back and forth to Fresno via that pass on weekends to see my girlfriend. The road up there was still a narrow and twisty two laner back then and those trucks would regularly spill parts of their loads on the corners. Then the critters would come out of the hills to feast on that bounty and a large percentage of them became roadkill. I sure felt bad always seeing all the dead animals but I absolutely HATED having to wash off that god-awful mixture of rotten tomato and wildlife carnage off my car after each trip!

She must have been something special for you to make that long drive from Sunnyvale to Fresno and back! I used to have a girlfriend in Gilroy when I lived in San Jose and I thought that was a long round trip.

SR152 over Pacheco pass was a killer in those days. Narrow, very windy, nothing separating opposing traffic but a double yellow painted line. Since then they have widened it and added a median concrete barrier. Saved many lives no doubt.

The Los Banos area included SR 152 West all the way to Dinosaur Point, the County line. 0255 and I spent a lot of time up there. Perhaps I'll recall some more memories from there.

Yeah, she was special enough to make that drive for abut a year before she became wife #1 and moved over to the Bay Area with me. Still have a strong memory of those Friday night dashes to the Valley circa 1983-84. As a young guy with an objective like I had, once I came off the two-lane pass I was always pushing 10-15 mph over all the way around the reservoir and down and across SR152 then south down Highway 99. I learned quick to be vigilant and alert and I pretty much knew where to watch and slow down. Never got cited and had only one "white door warning" the whole time. ;)

Repeated the drill 26 years later while courting wife #2 only this time for three years and the route was Monterey Bay to North SF Bay. Lots more traffic and congestion this time around made for a much less frantic pace.

Yes, the memories from those early days. So many. The time period for your Fresno trips (1983-1984); that was exactly when 0255 and I were in service in the Los Banos area. You drove right past the CHP office in Los Banos each direction. I mostly worked day shift there, but occasionally evenings (off duty at about 10 pm) so it's possible you might have driven SR152 when I was out there. Who knows, I might have seen your vehicle on my beat.

Even though the speed limit was 55 at the time, and they wanted it enforced, I typically never stopped anyone for speed alone until they exceeded 70 (lots of white-door warnings), and even then it depended on traffic conditions. On holiday weekends the highways had a lot of traffic and the traffic flow usually exceeded 70. My main concern in those conditions was patrolling the beat to show a presence (visibility) so drivers hopefully would at least try to pay attention and drive safe, plus assist disabled vehicles (no cell phones, or emergency phones along the highway in those days). I always, as a personal philosophy, balanced enforcement with service.

Had to be very tough to vigorously enforce the double-nickel by that time, esp. in the rural areas. I pretty much follow the basic speed law and never drive too fast for conditions and it's always kept me out of trouble. Yep, I'd always see the CHP office right on the main drag in Banos. How far east did the office cover on SR152?

Here's what I was driving back then, you'll notice I added those big fog lights which were super effective and a must have for those nighttime runs in that nasty valley fog.

http://media.fotki.com/1_p,wkgqfqwdr...7/VW389-vi.jpg

I'd be passing thru Los Banos between 6-7pm on Fridays then back again between 5-6am on Monday mornings. Got my only white door warning while on 152 just past the SR33 Dos Palos exit. It was Friday about 7:30pm and a Mustang came up on me from the EB onramp after I passed the interchange. I knew the headlight signature well and had plenty of time to slow down and move to the #2 lane before he could get a pace. He knew I made him...what different times those were before radar and lidar!

I knew I'd seen that vehicle before...there was an enlarged photo of it in the briefing room with the caption "Watch out for this guy!" LOL, just kidding.

Seriously, do you remember if that white door warning was from an '82? Because that could have been me and 0255. Most of the time I was in Los Banos I worked day shift the East side of the area (beat 30-16), which included SR 152 East from Los Banos city to the Madera County line and SR 33 from the Dos Palos Y to just South of Mendota, and all the County roads and areas in between. A very large area, parts of 3 counties.

The Dos Palos exit off of SR 152 you referred to, we called that the Dos Palos Y because of the configuration of the interchange. One of my favorite breakfast and coffee pit stops was there; in fact coming out of that restaurant was where the pursuit I referred to in the first post on this thread started from. I would get up at 4:30 am on weekdays to get into the office for day shift, head out of Los Banos East to make an SR 152 beat check, then go get breakfast. So it is possible you saw 0255 and I out there.

Thinking about that area brings back even more memories.

Phew, glad I wasn't a BOL, didn't want to end up like this poor guy! LOL

http://media.fotki.com/1_p,rtgdtrfft...483x350-vi.jpg

Steve, I honestly can't recall the year of the Mustang or even the exact year ('83 or '84) that white door warning happened to me. I do remember it was enhanced by a quick on-off flash of the ruby in my direction before the officer floored it and disappeared into the night. :)

Who knows, we very well may have laid eyes upon one another out there in the westlands badland once upon a time. :thumbsup:

One foot on the break and one on the gas....yep you can't drive 55, LOL! ;)

It is possible. When I did work evening shift it was always on beat 30-16 (Westside). Some Officers didn't like driving the Mustangs, they drove the Dodge Diplomat instead. So it was likely one of only 3 or 4 possible officers that evening. Los Banos was a small office in those days; I think only about 16 or so Officers plus 2 or 3 Sergeants, a Lieutenant, and the Captain. Day shift would have 3 or 4 units, evenings the same, and Graveyard a single 2-man car. But sometimes vacations, court time, sick time, etc. would reduce the lineup. I remember one time when I was the only unit for the entire area on day shift. I put about 350 miles on 0255 in 8 hrs just trying to beat check all the main roadways at least once.

The Burning Oil
 

With 0327 in the shop for an extended time now, there's not much to do. I just worked for four days at a County Fair (LE), so I had time to reminisce about the old days again.

I always balanced enforcement with service. It is the way I always thought the job should be done and it enabled me to go home after a shift believing I was doing things the right way, a positive orientation.

One afternoon 0255 and I were working the East side of Los Banos on SR 152 when I observed a vehicle travelling Westbound that caught my attention. A lot of black smoke was coming out from underneath and from the sides of the engine compartment. This was clearly not exhaust smoke, and it didn’t look like a transmission oil leak onto a hot exhaust pipe. No, something else was going on and there was enough smoke to justify immediate action.

I turned 0255 Westbound, closed fast on the subject vehicle, and activated the red spot light and wig wags. After a short distance the driver yielded to the shoulder and stopped. I made a driver’s side approach. Black smoke was billowing out from under the hood. “You’ve got something going on here” I told the driver, an elderly man “And I can see it isn’t good.” He activated the hood release and exited the vehicle. As soon as I opened the hood the problem was obvious. The oil filler cap was missing, oil had splashed out all over the top of the engine, and eventually had caught fire. I grabbed 0255’s fire extinguisher and put out the fire, which had begun to include the spark plug wires. After a few minutes everything settled down and stabilized.

It turned out the driver had stopped for gasoline some miles back and decided to check the oil. It was low so he added a quart, but forgot to replace the oil cap, which was now lost. The vehicle clearly could not safely be driven any further. I called for a tow to take him the remaining 25 miles or so into a garage in Los Banos.

Now you’d think this driver would be grateful. Our action certainly saved his car which would likely have been past the point of saving within minutes of the time I stopped him, and perhaps a serious accident and injury had it gotten to the point where it caused him to crash. He might have even burned up along with it. Yes, driving along perfectly normal one minute, then stopped and having to be towed a short time later is inconvenient. But this guy acted as though it was somehow all my fault for stopping him. Not one word or demeanor of thanks, gratitude, or even recognition for rescuing him from his carelessness; instead it was as though it was me that was inconveniencing him.

Oh well; you can’t please everyone. 0255 and I had once again done our duty. Perhaps at least the Karma Continuum had taken notice.

Steering Wheels Don't Taste Good
 

Over the holidays I was at a party and was hanging out with some other former LE officers. Not really a holiday subject, but somehow the subject of discussion became gruesome fatal accidents you've seen. I've seen many and each one is a story in itself, but i always remember the double-fatal crash that happened early in Los Banos on the Interstate. In the same area and not far away from the location where 0255 and I herded the cattle off the freeway and back onto their side of the fence. Fatals and major-injury crashes were common in that area, mostly due to the high speeds on the Interstate. Many of them were single-vehicle (solos) where drivers would fall asleep and drive off the roadway, even during the daytime. And at the speeds involved, it was usually bad.

It was early on a weekend morning. Dispatch had received a report from CalTrans (California Dept. of Transportation) that a vehicle had crashed into one of their trucks. 0255 and I arrived shortly and I could see right away what had happened. CalTrans had a crew working on the shoulder and had parked one of their large sign trucks a few hundred feet upstream, on the shoulder, to physically protect their workers. A good practice just in case a vehicle drifted onto the shoulder...which is exactly what happened. For unknown reasons, likely a sleepy driver, a standard-sized sedan with two occupants smacked square into the back of that truck at freeway speed. No brakes, no slowing at all. Both occupants were dead, and it was obvious they had both died instantly upon impact. But it was the driver that I won't forget. His body was still hunched forward, with the upper part of the steering wheel lodged in his mouth about halfway back into his head. The impact had sent him forward and he quite literally ate the steering wheel.
There wasn't much to do besides call for the Coroner, tow trucks, and write the report.

The Ghost of 0255 Has Been Spotted!
 

Spotted in my driveway a few minutes ago! Seriously, 0327 came home from the interior shop yesterday. I couldn't resist putting one of the repro 0255 E Plates on and snapping a few photos. From now on 0327 is going to be doing double duty as 0327/0255.