Your Thoughts on Plot Involving Police Chase

Post Reply New Topic

I am working on a literary project---goal of a screenplay for an independent film. I want to begin the film with a police chase that took place in the past (to be filmed in black and white). Then have the transition to color film to represent the present time. Anyway, I am looking for others' thoughts in regards to protocol for a police chase---like what would you do if you were one of the officers involved? I will be on and off the computer today so it might take some time before I respond to any posts you make. I really appreciate any help you can provide. If you can help---what I will do is give you an incident in the event and see what you think the police should do next...then I will move to the next thing that happened, etc. This part of the film is to take approximately 5 minutes, to be followed by the opening credits. Thank you.

OK then...what happens first?

A 14 year old boy living on a two-lane rural road has been in an argument with his mother over missing a day of school. Although he had perfect attendance the year before, his mother his on his case hard. It is September and school has only been in session for a couple weeks. It is the 1960s.

The mother becomes frightened by her son's behavior and decides to call the local Sheriff on him. After calling, the mother and son head to the front yard. She begins to cross the road to go to a neighbor's house in order to get away from him. He pushes her across the road. There is a car coming toward them. She goes in the neighbor's house and the boy goes back in his house. He gets a rifle (single shot rifle) and begins firing toward the neighbor's house. The boy is a mixed mess of emotions. He is panicky. He is so mad, but yet so afraid. His hormones of adolescence are uncontrollable. He is melting down. His father left his mother when he was three. He now lives with his real mother, a stepfather, and two half sisters and two half brothers. They are not near the scene of this conflict.

A deputy is spotted by the boy. The boy who has never driven before, gets the keys to his mother's car and drives off just as the deputy arrives at the house. The deputy sees the car heading down the highway.

What do you as the deputy do in order to try to bring order/safety/control to this situation? Where does our plot go now?

Wow...that sounds a bit...far out?

Thank you for responding YourMother. You said it sounds far out. I agree---it does. But it's the way the film is beginning. Please---stay with me on this plot whether or not you want to provide any suggestions. I am interested in our reactions on this plot. This is exactly what I am needing for help on this.

I will go ahead and provide the next part of the event.

The deputy in his cruiser begins chasing the boy down the highway. The officer has radioed in and is quickly joined by the actual Sheriff and another deputy in another car. So now we have the boy driving fast in his mother's 1966 car followed by two Sheriff's cars in hot pursuit. The boy turns toward the right onto another two lane highway. The Sheriff's cruisers remain closely behind.

Any comments or suggestions as to what the officers do next to bring this incident to a safe close?

The sheriff would likely radio either state troopers or the neighboring county to set up a road block to trap the escaping car, or at least head him off from the direction he's headed. In the meantime, if one of the cars has a megaphone, they're ordering him to stop the car before he hurts himself.

That sounds reasonable. Ok...the boy is on a two lane road with two Sheriff's cruisers close behind. It is a little after 8:00 P.M. in late summer in America's midwest. The Sheriff notifies the state highway patrol that they are in pursuit of a 14 year old boy in a speeding car. The current two lane road divides in a few miles. If the boy heads on the north fork, he will enter a congested town of 5000 people. If the boy takes the south fork, he will head into a much smaller town. Either way, each fork of this road heads onto a busy US highway. So...as you said the state troopers are notified and aware of the situation. The boy heads onto the south fork and goes into the smaller town. He turns left (heading south) on the US highway, but quickly turns right onto a two lane road. The Sheriff's cruisers keep up. The boy then turns north on another two lane road which is heading straight to the busier town of 5000 people. The state troopers lie in wait at the intersection where this two lane road meets the US highway in the middle of the busy town.

What should happen next to bring this to a safe close?

Presumably, the officers at the roadblock will have their cars forming a blockade across the road so the boy cannot simply smash his way though. Assuming they all know this is a 14 yr old boy and want to try everything to keep him safe, there are a few options. One, set up a spike strip so his tires will blow out as he drives over them. This will definitely stop the car but if he's driving fast enough he might flip over. Two, get four police cars to overtake him and box him in, surrounding his car on all sides. Still risky if the boy doesn't slow down and rams one of the cars. Third one of the cars could try this. Also risky, but if done right has the best chance of forcing the boy to stop without hurting him. This wasn't a commonly known procedure in the 60's, so I'd just write it as a deputy getting a good idea.

Thank you Sacrip---those sound like things that could have been done to possibly bring a safer end to this scenario. I appreciate the link for the PIT maneuver---that is neat. This has given me a lot to think about on this story.

In the movie, it will open in black and white with this chase scene. After this scene concludes, the cinematography will lock onto a specific part of the setting and transition to color to signify the passage of time from 1968 to the present. Obviously, there is some sense that something very newsworthy happened in 1968. And now we can see the place as it appears today.

Questions:

*Where do you (anyone that wants to contribute ideas) believe the 1968 incident should end? The town of 5000? Or should the chase continue to somewhere else?

*If the chase ends in the town of 5000 (utilizing perhaps suggestions like offered by Sacrip) what happens in ending the chase/scenario? Or perhaps the chase will continue through town and beyond---if so, what do you believe happens?

*What kind of fate/end/resolution should happen to the boy? The mother who scolded him? The troopers?

Well, a lot depends on the boy's motivation. If he absolutely refuses to stop or even slow down the car, then he's putting himself, the cops, AND the townspeople in danger. Add the fact that he's fired a weapon and is still armed and you've got a whole bunch of cops who are going to lose their sympathy very quickly. So the closer he gets to the town, the less time the chasing cops have to find a safe way to end a chase and decide they have to do whatever it takes to stop him. This is where you might introduce a sympathetic deputy who's willing to try the PIT maneuver rather than let the boy run into the gauntlet the troopers set up. He could also talk the boy down if he ends up in a standoff with the boy and his rifle.

Again, thank you for the help---I am taking all of it to note. It is giving me insight.

Boy's motivation?---well, since he is on probation from a family incident earlier that year, he is not trustworthy of the cops. He blames his family for his problems. After his mother called the Sheriff, he had gotten angrier and panicky. He wondered how to get out of this. His maturity is not that of an adult, so he fled in his mother's car. His motivation once in the town of 5000 is that he still wants to get away from the cops. He continues all the way through the town and heads another 5 miles or so on the US highway with not only the two sheriff cruisers and two state troopers, but also more state troopers. One state trooper manages to get his car in front of the boy's car. The boy rams into the troopers car and once again establishes himself ahead of the law. He gets within a mile or so of the county line, but instead of crossing it, he turns right onto a very winding narrow two lane road heading into hilly and wooded terrain. The chase continues and has reached its 25th mile. What began at 7:30 PM with his mother arguing him over one missed day of school has now found its way to 9:15 PM. I will tell you that the scenario ends at 9:30 PM. So what do you think happens?

Well, I figure the longer he drives at night in unfamiliar territory at high speeds, and considering he doesn't even know how to properly drive, the more likely he is to get himself into an accident, whether it be taking a turn too sharp, hitting something or just panicking and hitting the brakes too hard at some point. Or, he might try to ditch the car and run away on foot in the woods.

You suggest an accident on a tight turn? And then running?

Yes, he wrecks the car in a deep ditch one mile after driving down this two lane road. He gets out of the car and begins running just as the cops get out of their cars and begin chasing him. The boy begins shooting the single load shot gun at the cops. One officer trips over a barbed wire fence and is injured. Just by coincidence, the boy has wrecked in the ditch in front of a house of a female friend---but the girl's family won't let him in. The boy stays on the porch staying behind a couch on the porch (it isn't uncommon for people to have sofas on their porches in this part of the country). The boy shoots at the cop cars. He yells, "Come and get me coppers, you'll never take me alive!! !" He hits one trooper car 7 times taking out its windshield and hitting a trooper in the face who is sitting in the car. The cops are afraid to fire toward the boy because of occupants in the house who could get hit. One trooper decided to sneak up on the side of the porch where the boy can't see him. Just as the boy raises the rifle again, the trooper shoots him 3 to 4 times---the wounds are squarely in the front of the neck. The boy and the two troopers are taken to the hospital. The boy is dead. The two officers are treated and released (the one shot in the face is released two days later).

So---how is this story to begin my story? Is it believable---or too movie dramatic type? You will not hurt my feelings with your answer. Thank you again for your help.

Just a couple of details in the scenario. First, is it a shotgun or a rifle that the boy has? And was he carrying extra ammunition before he jumped into the car, because a shotgun rarely can carry more than 5 rounds at one time. It seems that you mean for the boy to die (which surprised me, I thought you meant for him to live through this), but his murderous rage towards the cops seems out of nowhere. Would he really rather die than be arrested? And his calling the police "coppers"...unless he watched a lot of old gangster movies growing up, this seems like an odd thing for a boy in 1968 to say.

It is a single shot rifle. He has emptied an entire box of ammunition into his pockets.
I want to find a way for him to live.
I agree, the murderous rage is odd---it does seem out of nowhere.
And the calling of the cops "coppers" is very odd indeed for a boy of 1968---it sounds more like what older guys would use.

To be honest with you, this plot doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

And now for the kicker:

This is a true story that happened not too far from me. I was very young when it happened. I visit his grave on occasion. I feel like he is a victim in this---and I know that might sound odd, but I do feel this way. I feel there is more to this story---things not told.

I wanted to do this approach in order to see what others felt about it as a story. It never made complete sense to me. The other side of the story would have been the boy---but he was killed that evening. So all we have is what the police said and what his mother said. And all of this started over a missed day of school with an average student. And he was killed with 3-4 bullet wounds to the front of the neck (difficult to hit someone there---the head would be more likely with him behind the couch) by a trooper on the side of the porch (side of porch with boy raising his rifle out the front of the porch). Once hit, the boy would definitely move and fall---but yet 2-3 more bullets hit him in the neck in the same general place.

Thank you for giving me insight into how things could have turned out from your perspective.