A dramatic high-speed chase on Florida’s Turnpike was ended by a Florida Highway Patrol trooper applying the P.I.T. Maneuver three times on Thursday, as dash cam video shows.
The wild video shows how the squad car lines up its front wheels of the stolen U-haul and turns slightly into the van, forcing the car to lose control and come to a complete stop.
Following the dramatic arrest and rescue of the suspects attempting to escape after the van crashed, we asked FHP trooper Joe Sanchez to explain what the PIT maneuver is and how it’s applied in police pursuits.
What is the P.I.T. Maneuver?
Get South Florida local news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC South Florida newsletters.
According to the Department of Justice, the Precision Immobilization Technique is a technique used by law enforcement personnel to force a fleeing vehicle to abruptly turn 180 degrees, causing the vehicle to stall and stop.
“We did receive an assistant call from Miami-Dade Police Department and Homestead that they were involved in a chase on the turnpike northbound. Our troopers intercepted the chase. We got involved in the pursuit. We used what's called the PIT maneuver three times, the PIT maneuver is something that we use that basically ends the chase,” said Sanchez.
The Florida Highway Patrol Policy Manual, revised in 2022, states that the PIT maneuver can only be initiated by troopers who have completed the training on the technique.
Local
“Our state troopers are certified. They go through training, 40 hours certificate to be able to conduct that,” Sanchez said, “And I believe we all we are the only agency in the state of Florida that does that,” he added.
Why is FHP the only agency in Florida to use the maneuver?
According to Sanchez, the Florida Highway Patrol is the only agency in the state that is certified to perform the maneuver.
He says it’s in part to the hard training course the troopers must endure, as well as having the cars equipped with the right gear in order to avoid any accidents.
But a study from the Department of Justice in 2013, conducted by the staff at the Weapons and Protective Systems Technology Center of Excellence and Michigan State Police, found that “conducting the PIT maneuver on cars with stability control systems could have unpredictable results at both low and high speeds.”
How do you perform the P.I.T. Maneuver?
According to a Federal Law Enforcement Training newsletter, the “PIT maneuver consists of applying lateral pressure to the rear quarter panel of the fleeing Target vehicle resulting in a predictable spin-out action of the Target vehicle. The predictable spin-out action is one of the reasons the maneuver is considered a precision technique.”
“We have to make sure that when you PIT the vehicle, it’s traveling to an area where it's not going to be able to either crash into other cars or hurt other people.” Sanchez said.
“You get close to the back of the vehicle, you get as close as you can and with a certain speed, you tap that vehicle and you continue to turn, and that way the vehicle is spun out of control and we’re able to stop the vehicle,” Sanchez added.
