An unusual traffic jam formed on Interstate 85 in South Carolina on Wednesday afternoon. Department of Transportation traffic camera footage circulating online made the slowdown look stranger than it should have. Except it wasn’t actually a slowdown at all… It was an arrest.
South Carolina sheriff’s deputies, tipped off by authorities in Georgia, were trying to stop a tractor-trailer on the interstate without setting off a chase. The driver, they had been told, was wanted on a murder warrant. It was their mission to try and stop them at all costs.
The operation involved marked patrol cars ahead of the truck, which were used to slow traffic to a standstill so the semi couldn’t get past. Then the unmarked cars arrived. The operation was a resounding success.
What followed has now spread online almost as quickly as the original confused traffic-camera clips: a coordinated takedown of a wanted suspect, on one of the South’s busiest interstates, in a tractor-trailer that never had a chance to start a pursuit.
How Police Stopped the Semi
According to the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office, deputies had been alerted by authorities in Cobb County, Georgia, that 43-year-old Andrew Montgomery was believed to be traveling north on I-85 in a tractor-trailer. Anderson County investigators located the truck on the interstate Wednesday afternoon. They then pursued the suspect, who was wanted on a murder warrant.
The agency decided to go for a planned stop instead of forcing the suspect into a high-speed pursuit. Patrol vehicles moved further into traffic, running ahead of the tractor trailer. They then forced the driver to slow to a standstill. That boxed the semi in, leaving it nowhere to keep moving.
After stopping the truck, police vehicles turned on their emergency lights on. Then they moved in to surround the truck to help them avoid a dangerous chase, By implementing this plan, they were able to avoid damaging surrounding vehicles or harming any drivers.
The Arrest and Beyond
Montgomery was taken into custody at gunpoint and without incident, according to the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office, and was booked into the Anderson County Detention Center.
Anderson County’s role, the sheriff’s office said, was the South Carolina end of a Georgia-led investigation. The agency hasn’t publicly released additional details about the underlying case.
It should go without saying, however, that even if you’re driving a semi as a wanted person, the police will likely stop you in some way.