Did you see the car chase in Los Angeles the other day, featuring the man in the white car with the glittery purple cape? He was dressed all in white and was hanging out the window as the car rolled slowly down the road, waving his purple cape like a toreador would wave his red cape to draw the attention of a bull. Later, the man tied the purple cape to the roof of his car, which I'm sure was appreciated by the helicopter's TV crew, since it made him easy to track as he whizzed down L.A.'s freeways at speeds over 110 miles per hour. The denouement came when the man pulled off onto a side road and then parked the car and went into a doughnut shop. You have to admit, that shows a certain twisted criminal genius, or at least a sense of irony. Alas for the caped eluder, the cops were not distracted by the doughnuts on the premises, and when he resisted arrest, he got a faceful of pepper spray and was taken out on a stretcher. I can imagine him saying, "Hey, I didn't order my doughnuts with a side order of pepper spray!"
It seems that almost all of the good car chases come to us from southern California. Occasionally we'll get an entertaining one from Dallas, but rarely from anywhere else. I'm not sure if it's something in the Los Angeles mindset that leads to more chases, or if it's just that there are all of those highways out there and it seems to the driver that he might be able to get away. They never do, of course, although once I saw a clever driver zip into a mall's covered parking garage and disappear for a while. The cops did collar him eventually, though.
3 comments:
I've heard other version of the purple thing. One had it as a flag and another as a bathrobe. The cape actually sounds like the best description. Why were they chasing him in the first place?
We've got highways here in Jersey and do have the occasional car chase. I got to see the tail end of one after getting off the Parkway on evening. One of the cop cars surrounding the chasee was from a town about 15 miles away.
Maybe out in CA they have helicopters dedicated just to following car chases.
Once in a while we get one here in Atlanta. Last one I remember was two kids in a stolen pickup truck (where else but in GA) led the police on a 3 hour chase. Every channel on TV was following it, with their choppers, and remote vans. It was great, pick up, 20 cops, 5 remote tv vans, police chopper and 5 tv choppers, chasing two teens.
Post a Comment