New chase tactic helps officers stop fleeing motorist

Police spotted the vehicle early Tuesday morning with a suspected drunken driver behind the wheel.

When officers tried to pull him over, he fled, leading police on a chase across east Harris County and Houston — until a northeast patrol officer used a newly approved chase tactic called the PIT maneuver to end the pursuit.

It was the first time officers used the technique in a high-speed chase since Chief Art Acevedo last month adopted use of the controversial maneuver.

The PIT maneuver, or “Precision Immobilization Technique,” requires officers to drive alongside a fleeing suspects’ vehicle, then clip the rear portion of the vehicle, causing it to spin out and stop.

The technique, an antiterrorist tactic first created in Germany decades ago, is used widely by departments across the country, but Acevedo’s predecessors had banned the maneuver out of worries about injuries to officers, the public and the fleeing suspects, and over the possibility of damaging department vehicles.

“It’s a great outcome, but I’d want to know the speed before I talk about the process,” said Geoff Alpert, a professor at the University of South Carolina who has studied police pursuits. A dangerous game?

A 2015 investigation by The Intercept, for example, blamed nearly 28 deaths and 300 injuries on the Georgia State Patrol’s use of the PIT maneuver. Georgia does not impose speed restrictions on when troopers can use the maneuver.

Civil rights advocates and policing experts, meanwhile, say officers should only the technique in specific circumstances. If used at speeds of more than 45 miles per hour, it becomes harder to control and can lead to rollover crashes and major injuries or death.

Since 2012, HPD has engaged in more than 4,000 pursuits, in which 32 officers, 1,000 innocent people and 6,000 suspects have been injured.

When Acevedo unveiled plans for HPD officers to use the PIT maneuver, he said the department would not allow officers to perform it at high speeds but did not provide specific speed limits.

“We’re doing this because the safety of our officers matters to us — the safety of our community really matters to us,” Acevedo said, when he announced the decision to begin using the maneuver last month. “And then the safety of the suspects matter as well.”

Police accountability experts, however, said while the chase ended safely Tuesday, the department was playing a dangerous game using the technique.

“Eventually someone will get hurt, who may just have a traffic warrant or something minor,” said Scott Henson, former Police Accountability Project Director at the ACLU of Texas, saying HPD should release more details about its PIT maneuver policy. “And they’ll seriously injure or kill someone. It’s not an if, but a when. Thank God no one was injured this time, but it’s just a risky thing to do in an urban setting . ... They’ll just have to live with the consequences.” The chase

Houston police said they got a call from the Jacinto City Police Department just before 1 a.m. asking for help as they chased a driver they believed was intoxicated, said HPD Lt. Larry Crowson.

Jacinto City Police Chief Joe Ayala said the chase began around 12:15 a.m. when his officer asked the driver — whom he identified as Gavino Vasquez — to step out of his car, a Chevy Tahoe.

Vasquez, 48, had been wanted on a felony DWI warrant and had another warrant for his arrest for a parole violation, he said.

“He put the car in drive and he hoofs it,” Ayala said.

Vasquez led police on chase for dozens of miles for more than an hour, from near Jacinto City down Interstate 10, across parts of Houston, and then up I-45 to the Airline area.

Vasquez continued fleeing even after police used spike strips on his car twice, Ayala said.

Crowson said he believed the Harris County Precinct 1 constable set up a spike strip. Despite a blown out front right tire, the vehicle kept on going, leading police “up and down 45, around the loop” and ultimately into Greenspoint.

At that point, Crowson said, an HPD northeast patrol officer drove up next to the fleeing Tahoe and nudged its back right bumper, causing the SUV to spin out, stopping in the middle of the road, near the intersection of Greens and Northborough.

“The officers were able to get in an advantageous position to spin the vehicle out to stop the pursuit,” Crowson said. “No injuries, no accidents. The suspect was taken into custody.”

The officers had just concluded PIT maneuver training in the past few weeks, Crowson said.

Ayala said Vasquez faces evading arrest charges. Vasquez’ brother, who was also in the car, faces charges of public intoxication.