The Police only has two ways of ending a high-speed chase right now, and none of them is ideal. One of them involves spike strips, but that means getting in front of the suspect; the second is the well-known PIT maneuver, but not only can it fail, it can also be potentially dangerous for the rest of the drivers.
That's why some pursuits tend to be longer than they actually should be - the police officers have to wait until the road is clear and they can take action against the perpetrator safely. Even so, statistics show that just under half of the high-speed chases in the US end with a crash, and that's not good enough.
It's also something that caught the eye of Leonard Stock, a man from Peoria, Arizona. After watching a chase that ended with an innocent driver getting t-boned, he went to sleep upset about what he had witnessed. Then, at 3:00 a.m. that same night, he woke up with this idea.
He calls it the Grappler Police Bumper and, despite the superhero resonance it has, it's quite fitting. Leonard spent eight years working on the device, but it now looks like it's ready to go on the market as suggested by the action in this video.
But while we do welcome a new solution for ending pursuits in a more controlled fashion, we can't help fear it's not completely bulletproof. For one thing, they say the grappler can be disguised, but once that dust scooper is deployed, the suspect should have no doubt as to what's going on.
They would also start swerving all over the place as the only possible counter-measure, or maybe gain more speed, both actions increasing the likelihood of a crash. But if the maneuver is successful, then the target car will remain tethered to the police interceptor, bringing it to a slow and safe halt.
Talking to FOX10, Chris Smith, a man who got to see what it's like to be grappled first-hand, described his experience: "You know, you hear a noise you're not used to and it just basically feels like you lose power.. it just slows you down fairly immediately."
The system would have to undergo a lot of testing until it can be deployed in the field, but overall, it looks like a winner. The only problem then will be finding something to fill the evening news space left vacant by the awful short and totally predictable pursuits.
"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie) Full profile
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