Your Complete Line of Tire Deflation Solutions

This morning, Lacy Lakeview officers were dispatched to the Road Ranger gas station in reference to a suspicious person. When the officers arrived on scene, they observed the suspicious person to enter a blue Honda Civic and begin to drive away at a high rate of speed. Officers ran the license plate of the vehicle which was identified as stolen out of Austin.

Lacy Lakeview officers began to pursue the vehicle northbound on IH35. LLPD dispatch was able to contact Italy PD who successfully deployed deflation devices on the fleeing vehicle. The suspect continued to drive on a deflated tire into the Loves Truck Stop in Italy, TX where officers were able to stop the vehicle and safely gain control of the driver using verbal commands. The suspect was taken into custody for. Possession of a stolen vehicle and evading arrest by vehicle.

This was the best possible outcome we could ask for. Good work to the Road Ranger employees for identifying suspicious activity. Awesome work to all officers and dispatchers involved for safely bringing the suspect into custody. And a special thank you to the Italy Police Department for their assistance in bringing this pursuit to a successful and safe conclusion.

We were dealing with a mental health crisis where the subject called 911 requesting suicide by cop. Upon initial approach the subject fled in his vehicle but circled the block and came right back to his home. Officers deployed strips in front of the vehicle when it came to a stop. During subsequent de-escalation tactics they were able to wrap the 3 sections around the front tire. The subject fled again hitting the strips with both the front and rear driver side tires. His attempt to flee was limited to 61 mph and a short distance before he got stuck in a driveway and boxed in by officers. This subject was actively threatening to force us to kill him. These strips prevented a bad situation from being the worst. In the end the subject was taken into custody with no injuries to himself or the officers on scene.

At 10:25a.m. this morning, February 28, 2024, our agency received a call from a neighboring agency, Milford Police Department that they were in pursuit.  The vehicle was all over the road and failing to stop. An Officer from the Italy Police Department got set up on the highway behind a construction trailer, and moving all the construction workers out of the way. As the pursuit reached the area he was in, he deployed the phantom spikes. The vehicle hit the strips and lost both front and rear left side tires.

The vehicle travelled approximately 1 more mile on flat tires before coming to a stop. The driver of the vehicle then got out of the vehicle and took off running across a field. However, officers were so close to the pursued vehicle that they were able to quickly overtake the running suspect and take him into custody.

In this case the driver was the only occupant of the vehicle and was a 14 year old juvenile who was running away from home. The juvenile was already on probation for other crimes. The juvenile was not from our area and had driven around 60 miles before getting into the area where the pursuit began.

Because our unit was equipped with Phantom Spikes, and because they were deployed in a timely manner, no one was injured in the pursuit. Thank you again for the fine product which has worked every time we have deployed them.

Gregory Scott McAuley

Chief of Police