Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Tow Truck Thief Keeps Police on 2 1/2 Hour Chase

Aired September 04, 2001 - 09:47   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: We've got a picture we have got to show you folks right now. Check this out, this is coming from our Los Angeles affiliate KTTV. This is a stolen tow truck that has been the run from police we understand for about an hour or so.

I don't know if the tires have been shot off or they've been run off, but, as you can see, there are no tires on the right-hand side of the vehicle, and that is why you see all this -- the sparking and what not. And I'm sure this is a very dangerous situation. Let's listen in.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... medium-sized trucks and obviously smaller vehicles.

Well, he's driving a car that's on fire, a truck that's on fire, so yes, his good fortune has run out.

What he hasn't done at this point that we're aware of crashed is crashed into anybody, cause any serious injury. But it's just -- it can only be a matter of time before something bad happens.

Fortunately, because of the good work of the Long Beach Police Department, that hasn't happened.

What do we peg his speed at, Vinnie (ph)?

We'll get his speed for you in a second, Tony.

HARRIS: Again, folks, if you're just joining us, we are now listening and watching the coverage from our affiliate KTTV out in Los Angeles. They are flying over a stolen tow truck trying to make getaway in Long Beach, California.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... that's the same thing as your rear end -- or your differential end. Your rear end is a front differential. And that's the transfer case, that's part of your four-wheel drive system.

Looking in through the window (UNINTELLIGIBLE) reflection off the window. But ultimately what's going to happen is that he can burn through the firewall of that truck as well.

Just extraordinary that he's able to push that much weight with those rear rims -- that's all he's driving on and they're almost down to nothing. So it looks like the front end is completely about to disintegrate here. And when it does the pursuit will be over because the truck just won't move. Right now he's just pushing 8 thousand pounds of dead weight.

We have ground speed? Thirty-five miles per hour ground speed. Extraordinary.

Westbound willow.

HARRIS: Folks, if you're just joining us you are watching these incredible pictures coming in from southern California -- Long Beach, California, a stolen tow truck on the run from authorities, and this has been going on, we just learned, since about 7:30 Eastern, which would place it at almost 2 1/2 hours ago.

As you can see here, this vehicle has been -- the entire time we've been watching it for the last five -- almost 10 minutes now off camera and on now, this has not -- this vehicle has not had any wheels. As you see there the front right wheel now has just totally disintegrated and collapsed because of the weight. There's only one tire in appears on the entire vehicle. It's been running on rims and on the -- the rotors and on the differential for the last -- at least 10 minutes or so. And that has caused -- the situation has got police -- they're very concerned, sparking vehicle that's carrying fuel, this cannot be a good situation.

We understand that a police -- we're getting reports now from the wires that police are trying to stop this person from stealing this tow truck, and this has gone through the city of Long Beach and Wilmington and Signal Hill this morning.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... nothing lest, that's just the axle right there. The flaming -- flames there are burning plastic, burning petroleum products. It's a little difficult to see. OK, you can...

Well, that's a good point, Tony. The engine's still is going. Those are the step tanks. You get a good shot of those. You can see that those flames and sparks were going directly up against those tanks. But that is the right wheel, and you can see that it's completely burned through the axle. So this truck is being steered solely by that left front tire, the only good tire on the truck, and being pushed by those set of dual rims only. There are no tires, obviously, there's no rims left. It looks like he's down to the break drums there as well.

HARRIS: It's amazing the breaks are even still working on this vehicle. As you can see, the wheels have pretty much been worn down to nubs there. And that's why you see there are fewer sparks that are coming from underneath the vehicle.

I'm getting a report now that the tires did not get shot off or anything, but police had set up strips along the road and they did manage to blow out three of the sets of tire on this vehicle. As you can see on the front right and the two sets of rear tires are totally gone. This vehicle is now being driven and steered by one tire, the driver-side front.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That is the wheel, and the axle has burned completely through. Right now the truck is riding on the transfer case. There -- they went through that intersection, almost hit that car. Another major intersection as he goes southbound on Willow. This is taking him back toward westbound -- westbound on Willow, I should say.

Well, he's certainly facing a lot of charges, Tony, and, you know, this is something that we see and we wonder do people end up paying a police for this, and he certainly is. You have to ask yourself: Is this worth an argument with a supervisor?

Westbound on Barnett (ph) now, Tony, westbound on Barnett (ph).

HARRIS: If I can interrupt for just a second I want to try to clarify what you just heard. The reporter from KTTV saying that this incident now, this chase through the city of Long Beach and through Wilmington and Signal Hill, California this morning that's been going on for nearly an hour -- 2 1/2 hours now started because of a quarrel with his supervisor. This man who is in the truck apparently quarreled with his supervisor.

We understand that, according to reports, this suspect in this vehicle is a temporary employee at the city tow yard. And after quarrel with his supervisor earlier this morning he decided that it was time to abscond a tow truck and began this chase that we're witnessing now. As we said, this has been going on since almost 7:30 Eastern time this morning.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The left front tire is the only tire that he has, and he's driving on the break drums on the rear and on the -- well, there's nothing left on the right side, that's completely burned through.

Pass some workmen there, starting off and wondering: What's this guy thinking?

OK, he's up on a -- 12:00. Again -- see -- he's having a lot of difficultly getting -- pushing it forward. Remember -- OK.

HARRIS: As you can see there, the wheel's -- the rear wheel's spinning without any tires on them. It will be something to see if this man can get this vehicle moving again.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can see that he's spinning the tires or spinning the rims here trying to get it going, but it's not going anywhere. There is no front axle on the right front. Now we're seeing black smoke pour out from the right side of the truck -- truck area. And he's still sitting inside the truck. He's not -- well, it's not going to be very long, Tony, because that truck is on fire and there's got to be flames close to cab as well as smoke and that smoke has got to be coming towards the cab.

All right, it looks like he's stopped trying to accelerate -- nope, look at that, still continues to try and accelerate away. At this point the officers will be on the public address system ordering him out of the truck. The truck is on fire. They're telling him, if he doesn't know, the truck is on fire, you've got to get out of it, you've got to...

HARRIS: There's something sparking there in the cab.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That could be a reflection off of the window, Tony and Gene (ph).

Look at the flames come out from the right side of the vehicle and he's not getting out of the truck. It got to get really uncomfortable. If it's not in the cab yet it will be shortly. The smoke that's coming up there in front of light bar, that's coming underneath the cab, so the windows on the right side were closed. Now we're seeing smoke coming from the rear of the truck.

HARRIS: And if you are just joining us...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right. And what the officers are concerned about is if he's not getting out of the truck, could he be armed. So they're not going to approach him.

HARRIS: If you're just watching this we are look at what is the ending of a long chase this morning by police through the streets of Long Beach, California this morning. Suspected -- this theft of a tow truck from a tow yard has been going on for some 2 1/2 hours now. It appears as though now the suspect has gotten out of the vehicle, and we were wondering if that was going to happen. The vehicle was -- the cab was filled with smoke. As you can see there, the truck is fully engaged in flames.

This truck had been driven for 2 1/2 hours. We don't know how long it was driven -- it was driving without tires and anything under it, but it had been going for at least the last half hour or so.

COLLEEN MCEDWARDS, CNN ANCHOR: That's right. And according to police, the Long Beach Police Department, we're saying that the suspect is apparently a temporary employee at a city tow yard, apparently took the truck after a quarrel with a supervisor earlier this morning. This, again, according to the police department in Long Beach.

Apparently, he was able to monitor police calls on a scanner in the tow truck, which sort of hampered their chase and part of the reason why it went on so long.

HARRIS: And you can see them now, they have gotten him. The police do have him in custody, or at least they are dragging him away to custody.

We can't see now because they're behind the trees.

For the longest, at least, we've been watching this for at least 20 minutes or so off camera and on camera, folks, and for the entire time this vehicle was driving on only one tire. There was -- the time -- the police had laid down strips across the road to blow out the tires. They blew out three of them, and yet still this man was able to still drive this vehicle, allegedly, for at least another 20 minutes or so.

So this has been an amazing picture this morning.

MCEDWARDS: Yes, and you could see on the passenger front side all the flames, all the sparks, as that tire wore right down to wheel base, right down to the brake drums.

A few tense moments just a few minutes earlier as when the truck stopped it really filled up with smoke, the flame got much more intense. The police there were concerned that he would get out, concerned also whether or not he was armed, so they didn't want to approach the truck.

They have got him out now, though.

HARRIS: As you can see there, the truck now fully engaged. This situation could have been dramatically worse if the tanks on this truck had exploded. Obviously, you can see authorities there are doing the best they can to keep that from happening.

Now, again, we've been seeing this go on -- they say it's been happening -- it's been going on for the last 2 1/2 hours, since about 7:30 Eastern this morning.

MCEDWARDS: No word, no indication, at least, that anyone's been injured in this. There were some close calls as the tow truck went through some intersections there police in tow, with police in chase.

HARRIS: Boy, amazing pictures we've been watching this morning, this tow truck chase through the streets of Long Beach and Signal Hill and Wilmington, California this morning for 2 1/2 hours or so. Police were led on this chase by a tow truck which had had the tired blown out. We've seen fire, flames and sparks shooting all over the streets for the last half-hour or so. Amazingly, though, it appears as though no one was hurt here. And police do have the man in custody at the moment.

MCEDWARDS: And you're looking at pictures here courtesy CNN affiliate KTTV. And we heard the reporters talking earlier about what kinds of charges this person may face. Obviously they could be numerous this situation.

HARRIS: And we also heard them mention that they believe this all started because of an argument between temporary worker at tow yard and his supervisor. Have to wonder if it was worth an argument this morning. That was a heck of a picture that we saw this morning and it appears as those things are now under control.

MCEDWARDS: Indeed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's no go back to the firefighting and let's see if they're talking to the suspect. Now they pulled the suspect, they didn't even bother to handcuff him or search him. HARRIS: And that is going to put a cap on things for us. We'll keep our eye on this situation to see if things continue to heat up, if you will.

MCEDWARDS: The suspect out of that truck, though, that's where it's come to an end. Suspect out as the locals are reporting, they're going to see if the police are going to question him at this point or what exactly is going to happen to him. We'll keep you up to date as we know.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com