Jimmy knocked off work and headed straight to an eyeglass shop, targeting those large sunglasses that covered half of his face; he planned to wear them during daytime duties from now on.
December 24 arrived, a special day, and the busiest time recently for the police precinct. Of course, Jimmy was working overtime as part of the planned staffing, which involved an extremely long standby period of 24 hours, and potentially even up to 36 hours.
The reason for such long overtime was purely because, after division into sections, each police section currently only had enough officers for regular day and night shifts. Christmas, while seen by most as a day for family reunions and dinners, was also a day with a high incidence of crimes. As one of the few officers at headquarters who could support various districts, Jimmy had to work from noon on the 24th to the morning of the 25th, and then based on the situation, possibly continue with overtime at the precinct during the daytime.
Chief James and Deputy Chief Martin were also among the overtime staff, with Deputy Chief Martin even needing to provide on-site support like Jimmy.
Jimmy had prepared some snacks and candies in his pocket today for energy replenishment during the night. He turned on the radio to connect with the dispatch center, reported his standby status, and immediately received an assignment to support State Police on Interstate 630 for an interception.
Jimmy was all too familiar with Interstate 630, which cut straight across Little Rock. He couldn't understand what these fleeing individuals were thinking, racing cars with the ASP highway patrol on the interstate.
Actually, the best way to avoid highway patrol was to find an interstate exit, go directly into a residential area, where many roads in Little Rock are sloped. If one could pull ahead and hit a sloping road, make a turn at an intersection, and duck out of sight, there was a substantial chance of entering a dead zone for ASP highway patrol.
However, this year, with these chases, eight out of ten would only try to speed away on the interstate, which left them virtually no chance to escape. For highway patrol, this was their bread and butter. Skilled in pursuits and PIT maneuvers, they were much more proficient than the average driver. The remaining two who fled were mostly driving in city or residential areas, but their skill at finding blind spots and avoiding police sightlines was truly lacking.
The county police headquarters was actually not far from Interstate 630. Jimmy left headquarters, rushed to the nearest interstate entrance, and confirmed with the dispatch center through his walkie-talkie that he hadn't missed anything; he then comfortably waited at the entrance without going directly onto the interstate.
The dispatch center transmitted new information; the suspect's pickup had exited from a previous interstate entrance and entered a residential area. Jimmy immediately turned on his siren and dashed after their location.
This was a clever driver; coupled with the stability of the pickup, he wasn't taken down by the ASP on the interstate and successfully made it onto the city roads. Hearing the new location from the dispatch center, Jimmy also made a U-turn on the road, trying to see if he could get ahead of them.
The pursuit route was now entirely on rural roads just beside the city, where the speed limit was 40. Adjusting his route according to the continual updates from the dispatch center, Jimmy finally saw the police lights ahead. A red pickup was running in front, followed by two police cars.
Jimmy charged directly towards the pickup. When the pickup saw another police vehicle coming head-on, it quickly turned at a T-junction into a side road. Jimmy followed the two police cars, the first being State Police, the second from Little Rock City Police, and Jimmy, third, was from Plaskey County Police. This pickup was indeed receiving excellent treatment.
With the ASP State Police patrol leading, Jimmy and the LRPD honestly followed behind without overtaking; anyway, with the big brother upfront, the pickup couldn't run away.
At the upcoming T-junction, the pickup continued to turn, passing through several intersections. The ASP guys were probably getting anxious. It was too dangerous to drive over 100 on these rural roads.
Seeing no vehicles ahead, the ASP police car sped up, closed in on the pickup, and as the pickup watched the police car's movements, it adjusted left and right, blocking the position, and preventing the ASP police car from entering the PIT maneuver position.
At another T-junction ahead, the pickup had to turn left or right. When the pickup decelerated, the ASP police car behind directly hit its right rear side, a lateral force pushed the pickup to one side, and together with its own weight, it stopped sideways at the T-junction near the roadside.
The following LRPD police car skidded past, parking the police car in front of the pickup's hood. Jimmy followed last. After stopping, he immediately drew his gun and aimed it at the cabin. At this distance, and with the pickup surely not having bulletproof or one-way bullet-proof glass, Jimmy was certain he could inflict harm or even fatally shoot the driver if he made any sudden moves.
After the ASP officers stabilized their vehicle, they also disembarked and began aiming their guns at the driver. Since the State Police were present, Jimmy and the LRPD officers merely aimed their guns at the driver without saying anything, watching as the senior State Police officer ordered the driver to exit the vehicle, lie down, and then handcuffed him.
Seeing that there was nothing left for him to do, Jimmy holstered his weapon, returned to his patrol car, and headed back to the city.
Although this kind of support wasn't a daily occurrence, Jimmy had experienced it quite a few times. The senior ASP officers were professionals, and there were very few instances where Jimmy needed to execute a PIT maneuver himself; most were handled by the State Police alone. The county and city police were essentially just backup—often not very useful backup.
Today was destined to be restless. Jimmy hadn't driven far before he received instructions from the dispatch center to assist officers in the South District with making an arrest.
U.S. police officers generally carry 1-2 pairs of handcuffs. Sometimes, in the event of a group incident, a multiple-person brawl, or when a stopped vehicle contains several individuals, additional police support is necessary to bring extra handcuffs for arrests and to use the backseat cages of other police cars to transport individuals.
When Jimmy arrived at the scene, sure enough, a car had been stopped, containing four individuals; two had already been put into police car cages, while the other two were leaning on the hood, waiting to be processed.
Jimmy cuffed these two individuals, placed them in the backseat of his patrol car, and followed the officers back to the South District station, where they would spend the day before being transferred to the detention center after registration.
The reason for the detention was confirmed during Jimmy's conversation with the officers: speeding, reckless driving on city streets, and after being stopped by a police PIT maneuver, an officer had smelled marijuana on the driver, prompting a search of the vehicle which yielded a bag of illegal drugs weighing likely more than 50 grams.
In such cases, there was no escape; a record was definitely going to be made, and the fact that today was Christmas Eve probably meant an explosion back at their families' homes.
Thus, moving from place to place offering support, Jimmy managed to make it to 9 p.m., returning to the station to have his dinner, following the usual routine: pizza and salad.
Jimmy had long lost any desire to complain about the overtime meals. As long as he was filled and energized, taste was not important. The key was that the food could be ordered ahead and heated up in the microwave whenever he wanted to eat...
On weekends and holidays, Jimmy cooked himself. As he cooked more frequently, he had completely mastered the home-style dishes familiar from his memory—if only the ingredients and seasonings were more readily available, he might have been able to prepare even more dishes.
Just as Jimmy was enjoying his dinner pizza, a sudden 999 support call came from the dispatch center. Jimmy put down his pizza and rushed out of the station to the parking lot to drive off.
999 was the code for an officer being shot; typically, nearby officers would immediately support while those farther away would also rush to help as quickly as possible. This was akin to the officers' "one arrow piercing the clouds, with thousands of troops coming to meet."
No one wanted to hear this call from the dispatch center; those lucky might end up hospitalized without serious issues, but the less fortunate could face disability, forced retirement, or even death.
The shooting incident occurred near Dam Bridge, a popular cycling and walking spot in Little Rock where people enjoyed the view of the Arkansas River. It was a cycling and walking pathway, and cars were not permitted on the bridge.
When Jimmy reached the bridge, many other officers were already there, including the county and city police parked in the area.