« on: September 26, 2005, 04:33:54 PM »
Speeding biker eludes police
By The Sentinel staff, September 26, 2005.
State police at Carlisle are looking for a male motorcyclist who repeatedly eluded officers Saturday morning in Cumberland, Adams and Franklin counties.
Police believe he is about 5-foot-9 and 170 to 200 pounds. He was wearing blue jeans, a gray hooded sweatshirt with "SHIPP" across the front and a blue and white full-face helmet with a yellow mirrored face shield.
A news release says officers first encountered the royal blue and white sport motorcycle speeding on northbound Interstate 81 in South Middleton Township.
The rider refused to stop for police, fleeing at what a news release says was "a high rate of speed" and exiting the interstate at Route 34. The motorcyclist headed south toward Mt. Holly Springs.
Broke off pursuit
Police broke off the pursuit when they lost sight of the vehicle.
A state police spokeswoman says the call was likely made out of concern for safety, both of the motorcyclist and other drivers on the road.
"They're in constant radio contact (during chases) ... as any number of people may call it off due to safety concerns," says Trooper Jennifer Capriotti, public information officer for Troop H.
In particular a motorcycle chase "can be a little more unsafe as they go a lot faster," she says.
And, while the relatively lightweight vehicle itself might not be as much of a threat to other vehicles on the road, other drivers are.
"You don't know how other motorists will react to someone driving out of control," Capriotti says, as other motorists might swerve off the road and crash into stationary objects or even other vehicles.
Officers spotted what is believed to be the same motorcycle on Old York Road just west of Boiling Springs traveling 77 mph in a 40 mph zone. The news release says the motorcyclist fled "at an extreme high rate of speed" west on Old York Road, passing cars in the eastbound lane and running a stoplight at the Route 34 intersection.
The pursuit continued west on Old York Road onto Walnut Bottom Road and to Route 233, where the motorcyclist turned to go toward Pine Grove Furnace State Park.
Rode on one wheel
A state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources officer used his vehicle to try to block Route 233 at its intersection with Pine Grove Road, but the motorcyclist merely slowed down and "put the motorcycle on its back wheel as he rode past the DCNR officer," as the news release puts it.
The motorcyclist continued south on Route 233 with the DCNR officer in pursuit. But the officer lost sight of the motorcycle in the area of Shippensburg Road in Adams County.
The motorcyclist was spotted again on Route 30 by officers from the state police barracks at Chambersburg and a new pursuit was initiated, the news release says. Officers broke off the chase when they lost sight of the motorcycle in the vicinity of Route 696.
State police from Carlisle next spotted the motorcycle on Route 696 just outside of Shippensburg and again gave chase. This time they lost the vehicle on Fayette Street in Shippensburg.
By this time it was 1 p.m.
Biker chases rare
State police say they have little definitive information on the motorcyclist, as a license plate was not recorded. As for chases in general, Capriotti says they're really "quite rare," and even rarer still with a motorcycle in flight.
"Thankfully, most people pull over whether they're in a motorcycle or a car," she says.
Suspects are often caught after the fact, she says, through reports from other motorists or tips from citizens who know the suspect.
Anyone with information on the driver or the motorcycle is asked to contact police at 249-2121.
A state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources officer used his vehicle to try to block Route 233 at its intersection with Pine Grove Road, but the motorcyclist merely slowed down and "put the motorcycle on its back wheel as he rode past the DCNR officer," as the news release puts it.
Damn, I bet that game warden could trap a bear, but he couldn't net this squid!
Logged
Spartanburg, SC
'99 Bandit 1200
'03 DR650
I'm really a very hot, sexy,lesbian, trapped in this fat, middle-aged, male body......
Topic: Speeding biker eludes police/PA (Read 2239 times)