Two night ago I witnessed a movie-style car-chase in Helsinki. It all started at around 10 pm in the evening. I was running from Tapiola towards the city and noticed while crossing Ring I that there was a cop car trying to stop an old rear-wheel drive Escort. Something strange happened: the Escort didn’t stop but speeded on! Wow! An old Escort is not a quick car and in difficult conditions (ice & snow) it must have been difficult to drive.
Ok, I see a second cop car coming from Espoo. Escort turns towards Munkkiniemi and soon there are two cops behind it: a Mondeo and a Transit. The chase goes on. I do my best and try to follow. I want to see when cops pull the Escort to the side. But to my surprise the chase doesn’t stop. Lights disappear, and I can only hear sirens in the distance.
I continue towards Lauttasaari thinking what I’d do if I were the escape driver. Yes, I’d probably go down Mecheleninkatu towards Ruoholahti and continue Länsiväylä back to Espoo. Which is what the Escort driver does as well. On a bridge towards Lauttasaari I can hear & see & witness everything again. Escord climbs up from the city to Länsiväylä, Mondeo tallying close behind. Lots of siren sound. More cops following. My scene is perfect: I can see like 5 km of Länsiväylä from Helsinki to Keilaniemi, all way long.
But how many cops are there! One aften another new cop cars climb up from Ruoholahti to Länsiväylä. I try to keep record on them. Jesus! More than 10 cop cars chasing one filthy old Escord, which probably can not technically go faster than 140 km/h. Like 2 minutes after the Escort is gone new cop cars appear. Lights on, sirens on, going fast.
The next day I read from the paper that the Escort was bumbed towards snow just a couple of kilometres from where I saw them disappear into Espoo. It was questioned why they needed so many cop cars (officially 14 total) to chase one dirty Escort with a 20-year-old boy & girl driving away. I bet the cop didn’t consider his answer for too long. He replied: “If there’s a chase going on [announced on police radio] it isn’t that difficult to get volunteers to chase.”.