If you ever find yourself on the business end of a police chase, and we hope you never are, one of the techniques your pursuing officer might attempt to stop you is called a PIT maneuver, or precision immobilization technique. The move is somewhat risky, can injure the running driver, and can be dangerous to the officer if not executed properly. That’s bad enough, but the stakes become terrifying when the vehicle being pursued is larger than the police cruiser trying to stop it. That was the case recently in British Columbia when the Royal Canadian Mounted Police may have used the maneuver in an attempt to stop a fleeing tractor.
In the video, the police cruiser appears to swerve away from the John Deere slightly before pulling back toward it, causing it to flip as the tractor rolls over the SUV. The dramatic event ended with the large tractor flipped over on its side. It’s unclear what kind of safety equipment the vehicle had, but the cab and roof appear to have remained intact during the rollover. Officials haven’t released details on the driver’s condition or any charges they might face.
Cops pulls over pit maneuver on a tractor! pic.twitter.com/5tJYsSJOZq
— BOLD Behavior (@BBContentdaily) November 26, 2023
Interestingly, police said they came across the tractor on their way to another call. A local news station reported that the driver may have been involved with a convoy that was in the area to protest teaching gender identity and sexual orientation topics in provincial schools.
It’s worth noting that there’s not been an official confirmation that what we see in the video was an intentional PIT maneuver — if it was, it certainly violates typical guidelines against pitting a larger vehicle, as well as violating common sense. And we don’t know what caused the police to start pursuing the tractor in the first place. Those significant details aside, the results are quite clear. The tractor ended up on its side with a smashed-up top. The driver ended up in handcuffs after being pulled out of the cab, and the police Explorer SUV that initiated the incident ended up badly smashed on the side.
The RCMP said in a press release that the incident, including the officers’ actions, will come under independent investigation.
