One less FHP Marauder...

[sspmustang]

Hard hit. Trooper got whacked pretty hard.

http://www.staugustine.com/multimedia/crash012907/

[JonW]

Bust his butt down to foot patrol on the square :)

[stryker]

:depress: Poor Marauder I am sorry for that in fact i'm think i'm gonna cry.


STRYKER. :burnout:

[jgc61sr2002]

Linky no work for me.:(

[MENINBLK]

Linky works fine...

At least this is a Panther that didn't blow up on impact...

[Raudermaster]

That sucks. Poor car. At least the cop is ok though. The Panther saved his life! Refresh my memory, what do the FHP Marauders have for mods?

[Gre8one7]

i believe some have mods all the way up including SCs, but thats only some. He knocked the tree right over...

[the_pack_rat]

Damn another one bites the dust.

At least he didn't get hurt.

AFAIK ...

None of them ever got a S/C or even gears. Trans mods & tunes IIRC.

[Hotrauder]

Man, A tie! dead tree, dead marauder, grounded trooper. Palm trees have very shallow and not very secure root systems, even one that size. I am surprised at the damage to the Marauder. He must have been flying. No doubt this has not been a great past 2 days for the trooper. He probably has a bicycle on the beach patrol now.:D Dennis

[Gre8one7]

heres a sc police marauder, but not FHP, my bad
http://www.mercurymarauder.net/forums/showthread.php?t=29424

[LVMarauder]

Failed to negotiate a corner. Thats too bad, a silver birch too. He looked pretty shaken up over it. There have been like 3 or 4 marauders down in the last week, am i wrong?

[kayzap]

He was driving faster than his ability and wasted a marauder.

Remember Officers, If you don't wreck em we can buy em at the auction.

[Mike]

Gotta love a Panther!!

[DEFYANT]

Remember Officers, If you don't wreck em we can buy em at the auction.

Yeah, whatever is left of 'em.

[ckadiddle]

Failed to negotiate a corner. Thats too bad, a silver birch too. He looked pretty shaken up over it. There have been like 3 or 4 marauders down in the last week, am i wrong?
Yeah..I am driving really carefully this week... similar incident here this past week with a local PD rookie on wet streets... marked cvpi cruiser vs concrete light pole... dud had been on the force only a month :) you know he will get some kind of a nickname that will follow him for the next twenty years LOL

[merc]

Failed to negotiate a corner. ?

He was running stock rear tires with heavy wear in the center. This could spelled disaster with a S/C marauder and unskilled driver. If he had hit a Northern pine or Oak tree it would be a different story. Glad to see everything worked out for the positive.

[sspmustang]

This particular Trooper(who I happen to know) is highly trained, has also had Camaros in the past, and no, he wasn't driving 'beyond his ability'. Sometimes crashes are unavoidable, regardless of how well you handle a vehicle.

[Dennis Reinhart]

Why this has come back up after being posted in Nov of 2005, but any way JFI the car was repaired and is on the road with all the the other FHP Marauders, the cars now have close to 85K they are going to leave these in the fleet till they reach 125 K then they will go back to the buyer and he will sell these.

[Marauderjack]

The softer suspension and body roll you experience in CV's and other LEO cars inherently make the driver more cautious.....Our Marauders corner flatter and are very easy to push past the point of no return!!!:argue:

Just note how many members/owners have lost control and smashed up these cars!!:eek: I've been sideways a couple of times and "Luckily" came out of it....and it wasn't due to my stellar driving ability....IT WAS JUST PLAIN OLE LUCK!!!:bows:

Be careful out there!!;)

Marauderjack:bandit:

[sspmustang]

Not all of them..the ones where I am have barely 30K. The SB has traded hands several times now and has spent a lot of time sitting behind the station-and the DTR was deadlined over a shooting and spent some time off the road..
Would love to see them go through the auction channel tho...

[Blackened300a]

There have been like 3 or 4 marauders down in the last week, am i wrong?

Yeah 2007 has been bad for our collective Marauder owners.
Im glad I got my winter beater running and the Marauder is off the road til spring.

[94_302]

When you run the vin in carfax of a cop car do accidents show up?

[GreekGod]

I almost "lost it" with my MM in a light rain.

As with any high performance car, when you exceed the limits of traction, you can get in a whole buncha' trouble real quick.

This video shows a dry street, but some sort of "banana peel" could have crossed him up. Up here, in the winter, you learn real quick just how treacherous a slippery road can be. Last night, I drove 7 miles to work and saw 3 vehicles "off road/in the ditch". This morning, my Supervisor saw 11 on his way in to work. A fellow worker saw 6 in his 35 mile commute.

[Master]

" Sometimes crashes are unavoidable, regardless of how well you handle a vehicle." Umm, ok. Like a tire blows out on a corner, a person fails to stop at an intersection, and a palm tree jumps out of no where in front of you. Sorry, but unless you can explain how he crossed up the MM and smoked the tree, then he definitely was driving beyond his abilities. No offence intended, but sometimes it happens to otherwise good drivers as well.
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[BirchMarauder]

I live in St Augustine. I didn't know the trooper but I've seen him a few times too many sitting on the side of I-95 waiting for someone to blow by him. I did see the car, which is at another FHP station in another city. looks pretty nasty. won't they just get it repaired and put it back in the line up?

[oldekid]

I'm not sure why we always assume that these guys don't have driving experience. That's what they do all day. Give them at least a little credit.

I'm glad to know that the FHP trooper is ok, and that his MM is back on the road again.

They do a good job, and I must say. . . . they do it in style.

:beer:

[AzMarauder]

Driving experience or not...
We all make mistakes....

But... let's just say that I ran down a street and clobbered a tree. Unless there was an extenuating circumstance... (kid ran into the road, car cut me off, etc.) if I was driving within the posted speed limit and paying attention... my Marauder would NOT run off the road and slay a plam tree.

So... if my Marauder was parked on the palm tree... you can bet there would be a police report that had some for of citation...

Inattentive driving
Excessive speed
etc.

Probably a bunch of them that could be made to fit.

[oldekid]

Driving experience or not...
We all make mistakes....

But... let's just say that I ran down a street and clobbered a tree. Unless there was an extenuating circumstance... (kid ran into the road, car cut me off, etc.) if I was driving within the posted speed limit and paying attention... my Marauder would NOT run off the road and slay a plam tree.

So... if my Marauder was parked on the palm tree... you can bet there would be a police report that had some for of citation...

Inattentive driving
Excessive speed
etc.

Probably a bunch of them that could be made to fit.Yes, I agree. If you were driving according to the law, you probably would not hit a palm tree. You also, would most likely not be attempting to catch a punk kid in a Nissan that initiated a high speed pursuit that involved your fellow officers.

I'm sorry, but I just don't understand why these kids think they can run, and put other peoples lives at risk.

This particular officer probably did make an error in judgement. Lately, I think several of our members have made similar mistakes in their MMs. It happens, but I don't fault this FHP trooper for trying to catch the bad guy.

They take more risks than we normally would in our every day driving. I applaud them for doing that.

Actually. . . . . I'm quite jealous.

:beer:

[Master]

Agreed. That is our point exactly. Not trying to slam him for doing his job, by any means. All the best,

[GreekGod]

I believe the FHP MM "Coppers" were 'specially chosen and trained and given individually/exclusively assigned MM's to take home at the end of their shift. The Michigan State Police get extensive driver's training, and I'm sure the FHP does, too.

A friend of mine is a retired MSP patrolman that had one of the last Mustang Intercepters assigned to him (exclusively). As one example, he said they were all trained to drive at high speed in reverse and do a 180 degree turn, while shifting into neutral during the 180, and then into drive (just like in the movies). Never underestimate the driving skills of a trooper.

He also said you wouldn't believe how quickly those Mustangs would go from 60 to 100.

[94_302]

Obviously he was not driving within the speed limit or law. But thats ok because he was responding to a call of a chase. When you see a cop car flip on it's lights to go off to a call, do they stay at the posted speed limit? No. Would you want them to? No. Because when there is an emergency or a call you want them there right away. In the video they say the officer made an error in judging the turn. With adrenaline pumping and who knows what else it's not that hard to believe. Not to mention like someone else said the the tires appeared to be worn in the middle. That does not help if you are driving to get somewhere quickly. Yes you would get a citation because you would have no reason to drive that way, the officer did.


He was driving faster than his ability and wasted a marauder.

Remember Officers, If you don't wreck em we can buy em at the auction.
Did you even watch the same video? Or were you too focused on seeing a wrecked Marauder? :rolleyes:

[kayzap]

Yes, I watched the video.

Fortunately the responding Officer was not seriously hurt.
Unfortunately he failed to maintain control in a corner and wrecked a Marauder.

I was not critisizing why or what he was doing. Just lamenting the avoidable damage to the Marauder.

One thing I learned in my 22 years in the Judicial system is that no one is perfect. Even people in Robes and Uniforms make mistakes right along with everyone else including me and you.

[94_302]

Yes, I watched the video.

Fortunately the responding Officer was not seriously hurt.
Unfortunately he failed to maintain control in a corner and wrecked a Marauder.

I was not critisizing why or what he was doing. Just lamenting the avoidable damage to the Marauder.

One thing I learned in my 22 years in the Judicial system is that no one is perfect. Even people in Robes and Uniforms make mistakes right along with everyone else including me and you.

The avoidable damage as you call it may not have been due to his driving ability but more on the road conditions, not to mention the tires being worn in the center. Everyone makes mistakes, however I just don't agree that this is necessarily due to his driving ability. I'm sure the Marauder drivers have to go through a little more training or at least have been driving a while to be abel to drive that car.

[texascorvette]

This particular Trooper(who I happen to know) is highly trained, has also had Camaros in the past, and no, he wasn't driving 'beyond his ability'. Sometimes crashes are unavoidable, regardless of how well you handle a vehicle.
Little unsure of what you mean by your post. Most jurisdictions have an offense on the books that is roughly described as "failure to have vehicle under control". Does "unavoidable" mean the tree jumped in front of his vehicle, or does it mean that LEO's are held to a lower standard of accountability?

[sspmustang]

Neither. It means when you're engaged in a felony pursuit, things happen..or would you rather criminals get a pass when running?

As I stated, this particular individual is highly trained-FHP doesn't just give you the keys to a Marauder-and you spend several days on the course before you are cleared to drive it-regardless of whether or not you've had prior training for other specialized vehicles like a Camaro, and of course this is in conjunction with the vehicle training everyone goes through.

[Master]

The tone here seems to have changed a bit. I don't think that unless there is gross negligence (officer stopped in at the local pub on the way to a call, got torqued, drove into a tree - that sort of thing) that there would ever be any cause to charge the officer for loosing control on a call. No one would expect charges to be laid for simply loosing control. However, I think that the basic point is, regardless of training and experience, this one drive got out of hand for the officer. Maybe there was gravel on the road, maybe a dip so the car lost full traction for a moment - whatever. Doesn't matter. We're rather drifting from the original thread which was "One Less Marauder". And in the end, isn't that the important thing (What with no serious injuries to persons coming first, of course) ?

[mtenderenda]

When its all said and done...Our cars are really going to be rare...The way people are trashing the cars...I want to keep my car for a long time....Its to nice to ruin....I'm happy with what I have....

[texascorvette]

Most jurisdictions have rules in place that govern high speed pursuit. The rules are in place to protect the public from death or injury from either the pursued or the pursuer. Furthermore, there should NEVER, EVER be a high speed pursuit without flashing lights and sirens. The public has a right to know that someone is coming at them at a high rate of speed and a dangerous situation warrants their evasive action. The piece didn't state whether the officer was following the rules--or even what the high speed pursuit rules are--nor did it say that siren and warning lights were being used. It's probably safe to assume that this particular officer is very highly skilled, had his warning lights and siren on, and was doing everything by the book. He just got unlucky. He, and the Marauder, both have my sympathy.

Unfortunately, north Texas has seen a number of officers killed or injured by careless and/or incompetent pursuit in the last decade. Some were violating high speed pursuit rules. Some thought their skill level was greater than it really was. Some--if not most--were too (insert your choice of adjectives in this spot) to have their warning lights and sirens on. The sad part about that last fact is that they managed to kill several innocent civilians in the process of killing or injuring themselves.

No, criminals ought not be allowed to escape. Departmental rules and common sense need to be part of deciding the necessity of high speed pursuit in each and every instance, though. Law enforcement officers who think they have blanket authority to drive like they are Starsky & Hutch should be given desk jobs where they won't be endangering the public.

[ctrlraven]

Glad he is ok and the poor SB. Well my car just got a little more rarer :rolleyes: