Sheriff's Deputy Uses PIT Maneuver to Stop Pursuit

555 A Oakland County Sheriff's deputy's quick moves to end this high-speed pursuit was a textbook example of a PIT Maneuver. On Saturday at dusk, the officer pulled up behind a dark-blue Hummer, clean and shiny, even bearing a University of Michigan sticker on the back window. But what it lacked was obvious: a license plate. And the driver had just committed a traffic violation, according to a news release from the Oakland County Sheriff's Office. The officer's dash-cam video shows the deputy shining a spotlight over, around and across the rear of the big '06 Hummer H-3, in a futile search for a temporary paper license, while the two were stopped at a traffic light at a freeway off-ramp in Rochester Hills shortly after 5:30 p.m. Saturday. As soon as the light changed, as shown on the video, the Hummer driver sped away, cutting off another driver in his haste to enter northbound Adams Road. That other driver hit the brakes to avoid a collision. As seen on the video, that gave the deputy just enough room to squeeze by and give chase, as the officer activated the squad car's flashing lights and siren, according to the news release. The Hummer kept right on accelerating over the freeway overpass, then abruptly turns left, attempting to escape via the entrance ramp to westbound M-59, the release said. The video shows the officer charging after the big Hummer, tilting up part-way onto a concrete embankment to get into position next to the fleeing car, then jerking the squad car into a sideways ram near the tail of the other car, putting it into an instant spin. As the video runs, the Hummer spins out of control and out of sight and the officer steers a quick 180-degree turn to roll back and make the arrest, "safely ending the pursuit before the driver was able to get onto M-59," according to the release from Oakland County Undersheriff Mike McCabe. The driver, John Joseph Melotik, 54, of Canton, surrendered without resistance, McCabe said in the release. Melotik was being held Monday at the Oakland County Jail, "pending the issuance of criminal charges," McCabe said. Tracing the Hummer's vehicle ID number showed that the big SUV was reported stolen to Southgate police in 2017, McCabe said. Melotik told investigators that he had been driving the vehicle knowing it was stolen after paying $200 for it, McCabe added. Melotik was arraigned Monday at 52-3 District Court in Rochester Hills on two charges: receiving and concealing a stolen car as well as fourth-degree fleeing and eluding, according to the Sheriff's Office. After being held over the weekend in the Oakland County Jail, he was released Monday afternoon on a personal bond - meaning that no cash was required, according to jail records.

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