“The last thing a police officer trying to chase down a suspect in a high-speed pursuit needs to see is a warning that their patrol car is running low on gas – or on battery juice” The East Bay Times is reporting.
“But that’s how it went down Friday night in Fremont – in a Tesla no less.
“A Fremont police officer pursuing a suspect while driving the department’s Tesla Model S patrol car noticed it was running out of battery power.
“During the pursuit of a ‘felony vehicle’ that started in Fremont and reached peak speeds of about 120 miles per hour on the highway, the officer driving the Tesla radioed in to dispatch that he might not be able to continue the chase he was leading.
“‘I am down to six miles of battery on the Tesla so I may lose it here in a sec,’ Officer Jesse Hartman said. ‘If someone else is able, can they maneuver into the number one spot?,’ he asked fellow officers nearby, as the chase approached the Jacklin Road exit on Interstate 680 south in Milpitas.
“However, shortly after Hartman called out the low juice warning, the person driving the car police were chasing began driving on the shoulder of the highway as traffic was thickening, prompting police to call off the roughly eight-minute chase at that moment for safety, according to police dispatch recordings on Broadcastify and a department spokeswoman.”
The rest of the article is here.
Jeff Pelline's Sierra Foothills Report 