When you’re mad at your landlord or tenant or whoever else is getting on your nerves, the answer isn’t getting on top of your car and doing, well, whatever this man did. During an argument that was part of this very situation in Fontana, California, two vehicles ended up dueling with one person riding on the hood of one of them. The rolling argument continued past Fontana into neighboring Rancho Cucamonga, according to the City of Fontana Police Department.
Ground units asked for help from Eagle 1, the law enforcement helicopter that covers the area. The flight crew located the two vehicles from the air. They then spotted the “rider” (read: person standing on the hood) which grouond offers hadn’t known about. The crew then tracked the cars as they moved between the two cities.
Eagle 1 guided officers to the vehicles, and ground units stopped both cars. The dispute crossed city lines while it was still active, which pulled in more than one agency. Fontana police, Rancho Cucamonga police, and the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department all took part in the response.
Much about the incident is still unclear. The post did not say what started the argument between the landlord and tenant, or how the person came to be on the hood. There’s no information on what part of the argument led to this. And it’s unclear if the person was arrested or not as well, though it stands to reason that they were.
Why Riding on the Hood Is Illegal in California
California law addresses riding on the outside of a vehicle directly. Under Vehicle Code Section 21712, a driver may not knowingly (operative word there) allow a person to ride on any vehicle or on any part of a vehicle not designed or intended for passengers, and a person is likewise barred from riding in those positions.
We probably don’t have to tell you this, but the reasoning is because it’s dangerous. A person standing on a moving car has nothing to hold them in place if the driver brakes, accelerates, or turns, and a fall onto pavement can cause serious injury even at low speed. Nearby traffic adds a second hazard, since other drivers do not expect a person to be riding on the outside of a car.
How Police Air Support Changes a Ground Pursuit
You’ll notice that the images and footage from the situation are all from an aerial view. A helicopter gives officers a vantage point the ground cannot match. From the air, a flight crew can see across intersections and blocks that patrol officers cannot, follow a vehicle without having to stay directly behind it, and relay a car’s location and direction to units on the ground in real time.
In this case, Eagle 1 both found the two vehicles and identified the rider on the hood, information the responding officers did not have until the crew radioed it down.
Law enforcement guidance generally favors backing off close ground pursuit when an aircraft can keep a vehicle in sight, because it reduces the speed and pressure that make chases dangerous while still tracking where the cars go. It is also what allowed departments from two cities to converge on the same moving target as it crossed from Fontana into Rancho Cucamonga. Once the aircraft had the vehicles located, ground units were able to move in and bring both cars to a stop without anyone being hurt.
And even though someone was doing something like standing on top of a moving car, everyone got out of the situation alive. Sometimes, that’s all you can hope for.