Police Spike Strips Take Out 7 Drivers…None Of Which Were The Suspect

Oops. The Arizona Department of Public Safety had good intentions, but poor execution on this one.

Spike strips were disabled to stop a dangerous driver. However, the wrong vehicles were taken out as the chase suspect kept on going for miles. A high-speed chase that ended up lasting 31 miles took place on I-10 in Arizona.

Local news KGUN 9 News talked to one of the innocent drivers, Kim Egita. he was headed to celebrate her mother’s birthday when she saw other drivers hit their brakes approaching a DPS trooper crouched near the side of the road. Unfortunately, she was unable to stop before hitting the spike strips:

“And in a split second I went over whatever was in the road and realized something horrific happened. At that moment, putting two and two together, realizing my tire or later find out two tires are flat, trying to navigate my way off the freeway going 70-75 miles an hour with someone very close behind me, which I later realized was the suspect.”

While the suspect kept going, Egita and several other drivers had to struggle to pull over without causing a pileup. DPS troopers came to check on her and the other 6 drivers. While she says they did apologize and called in a tow truck, she is now out more than $700 for the tow and the two tires. Fortunately, nobody was injured in the mixup.