# Man in stolen police cruiser leads authorities on wild I-66 chase



## Herrdoktor

http://www2.insidenova.com/news/201...-cruiser-led-authorities-i-66-cha-ar-1854461/

*MANASSAS, Va. --​*Police arrested a man Thursday after they said he first assaulted an officer, stole an Arlington County police officer's cruiser and led authorities on a chase that finally ended on Interstate 66 in Fairfax.
State police charged Dexter Gibson, 37, of Herndon, with grand larceny, carjacking, eluding police, two counts of malicious wounding, two counts of destruction of property and six counts of assaulting a police officer, said state police spokeswoman Corinne Geller.
The incident started when a trooper spotted a man walking along eastbound Interstate 66 at the 46 mile marker, close to the Va. 234 exit, around noon.
The trooper stopped his cruiser near the man, and an Arlington County police officer in a patrol car pulled up behind the trooper to assist, officers said.
The man became combative and banged on the state trooper's cruiser. He then hit the Arlington officer in his face and jumped in his patrol car, Geller said.
The officer was taken to a nearby hospital with non life-threatening injuries, Geller said.
Police said the stolen cruiser sped off I-66 onto Va. 29 and then returned to westbound I-66 in the Centreville area.
State troopers and Prince William and Fairfax police chased the driver to east of the 47 mile marker and then forced him onto the shoulder of the interstate where he finally stopped, Geller said.
But the man wasn't ready to surrender.
He got out of the Arlington police cruiser and jumped into the bed of a nearby pickup truck which was stopped, Geller said.
At this point, police blocked all of westbound I-66 traffic.
Officials said the man then grabbed a shovel from the truck bed and swung it at police.
Authorities got him to drop the shovel, but the man tried to escape by jumping out of the truck and climbing over an adjacent cement Jerseywall.
The eluder fought with two officers before they were finally able to arrest him, state police said. The officers suffered non life-threatening injuries.
Gibson is being held without bond at the Prince William-Manassas regional jail.
It is unclear why the Arlington officer was initially at the scene.


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## Guest

What a total nutjob O2 Thieving waste.


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## csauce777

Why didn't the Arlington County guy jump in with the Trooper and get his licks in at the end?


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## Herrdoktor

csauce777 said:


> Why didn't the Arlington County guy jump in with the Trooper and get his licks in at the end?


The Arlington County got his licks in. There is more to this story than can be said here.


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## csauce777

Herrdoktor said:


> The Arlington County got his licks in. There is more to this story than can be said here.


 There always is. I'm glad.


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## Guest

Always remember to engage the gear shift lock, boys & girls. Sometimes I reach for it on my POV out of habit.


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## Kilvinsky

Another confused soul who probably didn't get enough love at home or the right order at the local fast food joint.


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## Goose

Delta784 said:


> Always remember to engage the gear shift lock, boys & girls. Sometimes I reach for it on my POV out of habit.


Unfortunately a lot of departments are too cheap to spend $100 to protect their officers, their vehicles, their equipment, and the citizens of their community.


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## Kilvinsky

I'm not even sure what one is?


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## 7costanza

The Arlington County got his licks in




If it was Rte 66 it should have been kicks.


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## Guest

frank said:


> Unfortunately a lot of departments are too cheap to spend $100 to protect their officers, their vehicles, their equipment, and the citizens of their community.


I think it was standard equipment on the 2009-2011 CVPI's, but if not, it is definitely worth $100. I always engage it when I leave my cruiser, especially on a traffic stop.


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## Guest

Kilvinsky said:


> I'm not even sure what one is?


It's a mechanism you engage when the cruiser is in "Park" that locks the gear shift. so unless you know how to release the mechanism (not going to say publicly for obvious reasons), a running cruiser is going nowhere, because you can't move the gear shift lever from "Park".


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## Herrdoktor

Delta784 said:


> It's a mechanism you engage when the cruiser is in "Park" that locks the gear shift. so unless you know how to release the mechanism (not going to say publicly for obvious reasons), a running cruiser is going nowhere, because you can't move the gear shift lever from "Park".


They fail too much for me to engage mine.


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## SinePari

Herrdoktor said:


> It is unclear why the Arlington officer was initially at the scene.


County dispatched him to the scene, doing his own thing on the highway, or actually just helping out the SP. Who cares?




7costanza said:


> The Arlington County got his licks in





7costanza said:


> If it was Rte 66 it should have been kicks.




Ha! Beat me to it!


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## Herrdoktor

> County dispatched him to the scene, doing his own thing on the highway, or actually just helping out the SP. Who cares?


He was on his way home from training and did the right thing by stopping (even though he was out of his jurisdiction) to check on the trooper.


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## dave7336

Delta784 said:


> It's a mechanism you engage when the cruiser is in "Park" that locks the gear shift. so unless you know how to release the mechanism (not going to say publicly for obvious reasons), a running cruiser is going nowhere, because you can't move the gear shift lever from "Park".


Actually, you are supposed to drive with the thing already engaged. This way when you put the car into park, it automatically will lock the gear shift.


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## Johnny Law

dave7336 said:


> Actually, you are supposed to drive with the thing already engaged. This way when you put the car into park, it automatically will lock the gear shift.


 That's fine until you have a car stop, and then have to clear in a hurry to go back up another officer across town. Much easier to only engage it when needed, besides every time you step on the brake when it's engaged while driving you can hear the damn relay clicking.


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## Goose

Herrdoktor said:


> They fail too much for me to engage mine.


There's a couple of different companies that make different styles of anti-theft devices. There's a guy that has a small company in Bedford that makes a passive one that can stay on all the time.


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## dave7336

Johnny Law said:


> That's fine until you have a car stop, and then have to clear in a hurry to go back up another officer across town. Much easier to only engage it when needed, besides every time you step on the brake when it's engaged while driving you can hear the damn relay clicking.


 like anything, it is second nature to deactivate it..you get used to it real quick (less than a shift) but if you have to jump out of a cruiser to help someone real quick, most people forget to activate it.

If there is a problem with it clicking, just have fleet maintaince contact the company. If it is the one in Bedford, they will fix it no problem


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