Shooting Hot Pursuit
Executive Producer Phil Ward talks about the strangest things he's ever seen making the show.
Q: What is your favorite Hot Pursuit clip?
A: Very tough choice! If it comes to the crunch I think I have to opt for a clip where three guys are pulled over on a routine stop and their stories don't add up. The driver says that he is going to Tallahassee to pick up his niece but his passengers seem to be under the impression that they are off to Jacksonville to visit his mother. Their stories unravel like a cheap sweater and it makes for hilarious viewing.
Q: Is there one great clip you've watched that, for whatever reason, you've never been able to put in the show?
A: People used to say "a camera doesn't lie," but nowadays filmmakers and photographers can certainly bend the truth. What is true though, is that a dash cam records everything in front of it, no matter how extreme or violent. I recall one clip where a rookie deputy pulled over a female DUI who was twice his size. When he tried to arrest her she attacked him, wrestling him to the floor and then smashing him in the head with his own baton. He had to shoot her to save his own life. She died at the scene and he was devastated at the thought of what he had done. He was an extremely brave guy and had no choice. The clip was very dramatic and extremely powerful but, for obvious reasons we cannot show fatalities.
Q: Describe the perfect Hot Pursuit clip.
A: It would have high speeds, dangerous criminals and an awe-inspiring PIT maneuver. PIT stands for Precision Intervention Technique, basically ramming a suspect off the road.
Q: How many clips do you think you've watched in preparing Hot Pursuit?
A: In making season three of Hot Pursuit I must have watched about 400 clips.
Q: After watching all these clips, do you think you've learned any secrets about the best way to escape a police pursuit?
A: It is so rare that this ever happens. I think I have seen maybe three or four cases. To dodge stop-sticks, roadblocks, PIT maneuvers and outrun cruisers and helicopters you just need to be a very lucky suspect with a rabbit foot in your back pocket and a leprechaun on the dashboard.
Q: Watching these clips, which do you more often think: I wish I was a police officer or thank goodness I'm not a police officer?
A: Definitely "thank goodness I'm not!" Cops put their lives on the line every day and nine times out of ten the only thanks they get is physical and oral abuse.
Q: Who is the bravest police officer you've found in a Hot Pursuit clip?
A: The lone female deputy who pulls over a drugged-up motorist is unbelievable. While she is checking his ID he lunges forward and attacks her, trying and get his wallet back. As he is wrestling with her he is going crazy and shouting and screaming and she must have been terrified. He runs back to his van and she sprints after him despite the danger. After several minutes of chaos he finally gives himself up and she makes the arrest. I must have seen this clip 100 times, but every time she orders the suspect, "Don't ever touch me again. Ever!" I get a shiver down my spine. She is an incredibly brave and powerful woman.
Q: Who is the most dangerous criminal you've found in a Hot Pursuit clip?
A: It would have to be the director of a nursery who sped off in an SUV with five of her infant charges for company. After leading police on an hour-long, high speed pursuit and running down an officer she was eventually taken in to custody. VIEW THE CLIP
Q: What kinds of things can't you show on U.S. television that you can show in other parts of the world?
A: Actually not that much. As I mentioned before we always cut scenes where a suspect (or officer) is killed but thankfully these clips are extremely rare.
Q: What is the lesson to be learned by watching Hot Pursuit?
A: Truth is definitely stranger than fiction.
