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Standoff in California Resolved

Aired July 05, 2002 - 14:19   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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Now on to California where you saw this highway standoff unfold live right here on CNN. After leading Bay Area police on a high speed chase, SWAT team members unexpectedly advanced on the driver of the car. Our Miles O'Brien is here to pick up the story from there. Hey, there, Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Fredricka. I guess you could call this really a soap opera given the way it all ended.

Let's take a look at some of the picture over the course of this whole ordeal. This is how it ended with foam -- non-lethal foam. Law enforcement has been looking at it for years at foam as an alternative to using lethal means to handling suspects.

This was after they had used a strip of puncture devices to take out the tires of this automobile. Just to back up a little bit -- it began at a little bit after 4:30 a.m. local time in the Livermore area -- East Bay -- traveled at speeds of 100 miles an hour during a police chase across the Bay Bridge and onto the 101 south into Palo Alto blocking traffic on that main artery for several hours this morning during what would be not the busiest of rush hours, we might add, but nevertheless a big inconvenience for commuters there in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The driver of the car -- it apparently had been a disabled vehicle. The California Highway patrol pulled up behind it -- it sped off. By the time it stopped here on the 101 after the tires had been punctured out by using that device it -- and what you're seeing here is slightly out of order -- is the SWAT team practicing on another vehicle of a similar make that technique you just saw.

But by the time the driver stopped there he apparently doused himself with gasoline, a standoff ensued and finally the SWAT team elected to use that non-lethal foam -- sudsy foam -- broke open the windows, sprayed in the foam. And the driver was taken off in handcuffs. He's at Stanford University Medical Center for evaluation.

And all's well that ends well. A sudsy end to a rather difficult rush hour in the San Francisco Bay Area. Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: All right -- well, glad it all ended without anyone getting hurts. All right -- thanks very much, Miles O'Brien, for that update.

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