[narrator] In Ohio...
[dispatcher]
[Alexus Carver]
[narrator] A desperate call...
[Carver]
Every second she’s in the water she’s in more danger.
[Carver]
This car’s going to sink.
[Ptl. Shane Tallman]
[Carver]
[narrator] Then, in Florida...
[dispatcher]
[narrator] A wanted criminal...
The chase is on.
[narrator] ...a rookie cop...
[Luiken]
Am I going to freeze and not know what to do?
[Luiken]
[narrator] And an ending no one sees coming.
We don’t ever expect it to go as badly as this one.
[loud bang]
[Luiken]
[narrator] In Ohio...
sixty miles south of Lake Erie,
is the city of Alliance.
[dispatcher]
[Carver]
[sirens wailing]
Both officer Tussey and I were dispatched to it.
Um, he went one way I went another way.
So, if there’s traffic at least one of us can get there.
So, he came in from the east side,
and I came in from the west side.
And emergency calls are different,
’cause you do have a heighten sense when it’s an emergency call.
I wouldn’t say I was close, by any means.
So, timing was definitely of the essence.
That river’s deep.
[Carver]
[dispatcher]
[McCord]
[dispatcher]
[Carver]
[dispatcher]
[Tallman]
[Carver]
-[Tallman] -[Tussey]
[Carver]
[Tallman]
[Carver] I’m so sorry.
[Carver]
[McCord]
[dispatcher]
[Carver]
[dispatcher]
[Tussey]
[Carver]
[McCord]
[Tussey]
[Tallman]
[Tussey]
[Tallman]
[Carver] I’m moving to the back of the car.
[Tussey]
[Tallman]
[McCord]
[Tallman]
[Carver]
-[Tussey] -[Tallman]
[McCord]
[Tallman]
[Carver]
I work two jobs.
I work at a nursing home in the morning,
and then I go home, spend time with my children.
And then I go to my second job, at a bar.
And then I go home, go to sleep, and start the day all over again.
Feel like I have to have [chuckles] more than one job to survive.
I have two daughters,
one is four and one is two years old.
They have brought out the best parts of me.
That night I was working... 12 plus hours.
And I, uh, hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before.
Because, I was also working the night before.
I left work in Canton.
And, I was taking the highway.
There was bits and pieces of the drive that...
were, kind of, foggy too.
Because, I was so tried, I was in and out of it.
As soon as I got off the highway, it was the last thing I remember.
I woke up, flying through the air.
Like, I smashed my face off of the steering wheel.
I heard a loud crashing noise.
And I hit the water...
it was really dark.
I dug around on my floorboards.
And in my purse, and it was submerged in water.
I picked up my phone, and thank God my phone case was water proof.
Because, my phone wouldn’t have worked.
[dispatcher]
[Carver]
My car just shut down.
There was no unlocking the door,
there was no rolling the windows down, there was no starting it.
Like, it completely...
wiped everything out.
Like, there was nothing that I [scoffs] could have done.
And the window was cracked, enough for me to breathe,
but not enough for me to crawl out of.
It was crazy.
I tried kicking the window.
Every time I kicked it, the car sunk harder and faster.
I stood on my seat and crouched down so that way I was,
you know, high above the water.
[dispatcher]
[Carver]
And then I seen lights.
And as soon as I seen the, you know, red and blue lights,
I... [heavy inhale]
kind of gotten a little bit of relief.
But, my car was filling with water.
The water level was up to my neck.
And I had already accepted the fact that, you know, I might die.
I might drown. They might not get to me in time.
[Tallman]
I was the first one on scene.
I started to look for a vehicle on the side of the road,
or some type of skid marks.
Some kind of guidance to where it might be.
[Tussey]
[Tallman] Officer Tussey had arrived on scene,
and he was able to see the car out in the river.
I stopped just at where the van left the roadway.
My light, quickly, reflected off of the van.
So, it didn’t take that long. I just started going down towards the water.
[Tallman] Never did I expect
to see a vehicle in the middle of the water, floating.
And being familiar with how wide that river is,
and how deep it was, and the cold.
I knew time was a serious factor.
It’s going through my mind that, we have second.
We don’t have minutes. We have seconds.
[Tallman]
[Tussey]
-[Tallman] -[Tussey]
Uh, the embankment was very steep.
Um, full of...
busted up cement blocks, tree limbs and roots.
[Tallman]
I knew I was going in there.
It wasn’t a question of, can we figure out another strategy.
Somebody was going into that water.
[Carver]
Officer Tussey, he went in.
The water is extremely cold.
Almost instant, my legs started going numb, it was that cold.
And I... You know, with Tussey, clear up to his neck.
It’s an extremely dangerous situation.
She was against her window,
and I saw her face, and I recognized her as, Mrs. Alexus Carver.
I knew she had children.
I did not know if the children where in there at the time.
That was very alarming.
My heart, you could say, picked up a couple beats per second.
This car’s going to sink.
If we lose this car...
and there’s kids in it. [voice shaking]
Um, I’m gone too. ’Cause I’ll do what I can.
[exhales]
So...
Yes, what goes through my head was the kids.
And the possibility of losing somebody that needed my help.
[McCord]
[dispatcher]
[Carver]
[dispatcher]
[Tallman]
[Carver]
[McCord]
-[Tussey] -[Tallman]
[Tussey] I can’t breathe.
Up until this point, I didn’t have to think, it was just actions.
Get down the hill, get in the water, open the door.
That was very easy.
[Carver]
[Tussey] Once I had the obstacle of the doors don’t open,
and the windows don’t roll down.
I realized...
I’m very cold.
I’m beyond cold.
-[Tussey] -[Tallman]
[McCord]
It felt like my chest was caving in,
like I was in a vice.
Every breath I would take in felt like...
I just couldn’t breathe at all.
-[Tallman] -[Carver] Shatter it, please!
-[Tussey] -[Tallman]
-[McCord] -[Tussey]
[Carver] I can’t!
[Tallman]
[Tussey] I felt the van move, slightly, when I was holding on to it.
The front window was starting to become submerged, or go under water.
If we couldn’t get that door open, that window open,
she was absolutely, 100% going to go under that water.
[Tallman]
I felt the Tussey was battling, number on, he couldn’t get to her.
Number two, he couldn’t breathe, he felt he couldn’t breathe.
And, I needed to talk to him and reassure him.
We are here, we are fine, we are going to do this.
Even though, inside,
I myself was starting to panic, we’re not going to get there.
-[Tussey] -[Tallman]
-[McCord] -[Tussey]
[Tallman] I could barely touch his fingertips.
So I didn’t feel
that I was 100% able to help him,
physically, if he needed me.
So I had to go in the water with Officer Tussey.
My foot slides down in between chunks of concrete.
I tried moving my foot, but I couldn’t.
But, my focus turned to Officer Tussey and Alexus, right away.
[Tussey]
[McCord]
[Tallman]
The shock of the cold water is...
it’s doing a couple things.
Um, it’s creating panic on my part.
I can no longer be the levelheaded person that I need to be.
As there was a pretty severe disconnect between what my brain was telling me,
to what I was comprehending, to what my body was doing.
[Tallman]
[Tussey]
[Tallman]
You have to shut everything out.
What they call, uh...
you know, you put your blinders on.
And I knew that by him panicking,
myself being stuck,
and Mrs. Carver not being able to open the door herself,
none of us where going to help each other out.
So, I tried to use my voice...
to calm him down and focus.
The sooner we can get this out,
the sooner we can save her,
the sooner we are all going to be okay.
-[Tallman] -[Carver]
-[Tallman] -[Tussey]
-[Tallman] -[McCord]
[Tussey]
I had so much going on, so much I’m trying to process.
You know, if I can’t get past whatever I was fighting with internally,
there’s no way she’s going to get through this.
[Tallman]
[Tussey] But, the cold is just making it seem like it’s taking forever.
And, timing is of the essence.
Every second that I’m in the water, I’m in more danger.
Every second she’s in the water, she’s in more danger.
And she had been in there, substantially, longer than I was.
-[McCord] -[Tallman]
Once I had the tomahawk in my hands, it was...
almost like second nature.
[Officers]
-[Tallman] -[McCord]
-[Tallman] -[Tussey]
-[Mabs] -[Tallman]
[Carver] I’m so sorry.
As she came out, the van went down.
Once I got her, I didn’t look back.
I didn’t know if somebody else was in the car.
I knew that there were car seats in the car.
Um, so, that was alarming.
I hadn’t heard any kids or heard of any kids.
[Tussey]
[Carver]
I was on my way to get my children, so my children were...
10 minutes from being in the car.
And I’m very, very glad [scoffs] they were not in the car.
-[Tallman] -[Tussey]
[McCord] All right, hold on. Don’t worry about your phone.
Got it?
[Tallman]
Once I got Mrs. Carver to the bank,
and made sure Tussey was up to the bank,
I could feel my leg giving out.
Like, I couldn’t feel like I could stand anymore.
And, uh...
then I started to become nervous.
[McCord]
[Tallman]
All right, I can stand.
Another officer that works our shift,
Officer Mabley, had come down the hill.
And I’m asking him, to help get me out, help hold me.
Oh, don’t. Don’t. No.
[Mabs]
[Tallman]
I had no feeling.
I had no feeling in my leg, clear up to my hip.
So, I did not know if...
it was broke, if I’d cut it, if it was just cold.
And I couldn’t feel my foot, where it was stuck, or my leg, or if I was bending.
But, I could feel the pressure in my hip.
Of him pulling and my foot wasn’t coming out.
I was getting to the point where I couldn’t stand, and I thought...
I was going to fall into the water.
[Tallman grunting]
Oh, there we go!
[Mabs]
[Tallman]
[Tallman grunting in pain]
[Mabs] You know what, guys, somebody got him.
[McCord]
[Mabs] I was trying to get Tallman outta the rocks.
[McCord] Here, hold on a second.
That’ll work.
[narrator] Medics are now on scene.
And examine Alexus, Tussey, and Tallman.
[Tussey]
[narrator] Tussey, has a cut on his hand from the window glass.
Otherwise, the three are unharmed.
-[man] You need an ambulance? -No, I’m okay.
-You sure? -Yeah. Just have to sit here a second.
This one definitely was...
not only a life and death situation for a civilian.
But, I believe,
it could have been a life and death situation for an officer as well.
And I think...
Many a times I sat and thought...
that one second...
difference,
and how many different scenarios could have happened,
that would have changed the entire outcome...
to be far less positive than what it was.
Yes, Officer Tussey and I went home with maybe a couple scratches and cold.
And Mrs. Carver went home without a car.
But, we all went home.
I don’t think you get any more satisfying than that.
Knowing that you job, human life depends on your job.
And you were able to...
to do that.
And do that efficiently.
This was a situation that you don’t get worse than that.
But the outcome was fantastic.
You... You know, you couldn’t script that.
Um, so there... There was a huge sense of pride.
[Alexus] He not only saved me but he...
He brought me back home to my children.
[sniffles]
And if he wouldn’t have done that...
...my kids wouldn’t have a mom.
And...
...that whatever he’s doing in life, he’s...
He’s picked the right profession
and he’s definitely doing a good job at it.
And, um...
...we need more people like them around.
[narrator] In central Florida, 70 miles north of Orlando,
is Marion County.
New recruit, Roman West,
and field training officer Corporal Daniel Luiken,
are out on patrol.
I was getting ready for field training,
which takes three and a half to four months.
[Luiken] When Deputy West was assigned to me,
I’m trying to let him do everything.
He’s handling the calls for service.
He’s the one who’s doing all the driving.
I’m trying to get him out there and let him know what he can and can’t do.
[Roman West] Between 10:30 and 11:00 in the morning,
we get transmission over our radio
that Putnam County is chasing a black pickup truck
into our county and it had been heading into our area.
[dispatcher]
[Luiken] I’m being told that the person stole a car,
there were a firearm in the car,
and they had threatened somebody else with that firearm.
So I’m instructing Deputy West that we need to get over there quickly.
I know that people that run from the police usually don’t have much to lose.
Am I going to fight and chase?
Am I going to freeze and not know what to do?
[Luiken] I’ve been in several pursuits
where the reportee is telling us
that the suspect has a weapon in the car.
But you don’t ever expect it to go
as badly as this one did.
[Luiken]
[West]
[Luiken]
[Luiken] When we get a major call like this one,
I need to step in a little bit and make sure
he’s getting directions correctly to assist Putnam County.
So I wanted to get to the intersection
of Highway 315 and 316 before them,
so that I could throw out some stop sticks.
[West] I get on the accelerator pretty good. Light and sirens.
We’re probably doing 90 to 100 miles a hour
just to get close to the intersection.
[Luiken]
We’re trying to catch the vehicle as it comes into the major intersection.
I slow down to a... Almost a dead crawl at the intersection.
[Luiken]
[West]
[Luiken]
Happening upon the suspect at the same exact time.
The suspect blows the stop sign,
turns hard right heading back westbound on the 316.
I flip around right there in the middle of the road.
The chase is on.
[Luiken]
[dispatcher]
[Luiken] The description that Putnam County gave me of the vehicle was spot on.
It was a black Ford pickup truck with some front end damage.
I only had a fraction of a second to look at the driver.
And what I saw was a white male with short brown hair.
[radio beeps]
[Luiken]
[dispatcher]
Soon as we initiate pursuit, it is pedal to the metal.
[engine accelerating]
[Luiken] Sixty.
[West] Before I know it, we’re doing 120 miles a hour
westbound on a two-lane country road.
I have never driven like that in my life
[Luiken]
[Luiken] By itself, a high-speed pursuit is really dangerous.
What makes it even worse is when you have a new guy
who’s only been cop for a month and half in the driver’s seat.
I’m in the passenger seat watching Deputy West
drive at speeds he’s probably never driven in his life.
And I’m needing to keep an eye on him
’cause there are times when trainees they... They block out everything.
They... They don’t hear the instructions from their training officer.
[West] I kind of went in and out of tunnel vision.
I would grip the steering wheel
like I was going to bend it in half.
And I had to relax, listen to Deputy Luiken
give instruction on how to drive a patrol car.
[Luiken]
[dispatcher]
[Luiken]
We can’t lose this car, we need to go faster.
[Luiken]
We’re getting closer to town.
So we need to get this pursuit ended
before we start getting into areas
where there are kids playing in the front yard
or there’s people walking on the side of the road.
The suspect vehicle tries to shake Deputy Luiken and myself
[Luiken] He tried turning down a road, though.
When he turned to go down this road, he changed his mind
and swerved back onto the main road
which gave us a small window of opportunity to try to end this pursuit.
[Luiken]
Signal four and--
[dispatch chatters]
[West] I attempt a PIT maneuver on the vehicle, just to try to disable it.
And our push bumper just bounced.
...right off the back left quarter panel of that truck.
And it’s like nothing ever happened to the truck at all.
[Luiken]
[dispatcher]
[Luiken]
[West]
[West] Suspect dips off onto a dirt side road
which is a different planet from the paved roads we were on.
[Luiken] Because I have knowledge of the area,
I know that this road is going to be ending
in the next couple hundred yards.
Deputy West, however, didn’t know that.
[Luiken]
In this situation, we have a stolen vehicle,
aggravated assault with a firearm.
That was before we even got involved.
I know there’s supposed to be a firearm in this truck.
I can hear kids playing in the yard right next to where I’m stopped.
So now, I’m concerned about this family.
I’m yelling, "Get inside your house now."
If this person has already threatened somebody else with the firearm,
it’s not a big step for them to threaten other people
and put other lives in danger.
[Luiken]
I’m expecting Deputy West to be standing right next to me
on the other corner of the bumper and he’s not there.
[bleep]
[West] I hear him say, "Stay with the vehicle."
And so I stay in the patrol car for probably 5 to 10 seconds.
[bleep]
A little bit of panic there.
So I have to get him out of a dangerous situation.
And then, I hear him say "Get out, get out."
[West]
I’m just looking for any movement
that is going to be seen as a threat in need of elimination.
[Luiken]
The car door on a patrol car isn’t any different than on a regular car.
So it’s basically just a tin can
between him and a potentially armed subject.
The ideal situation is behind the engine block,
the most bulletproof part of a car.
[West]
[gunshot]
Almost immediately as I peer over, I hear one gun shot.
[gunshot]
[West] It makes impact somewhere near me.
And it just takes a second to kind of sink in as to the...
The gravity of the situation.
[Luiken]
[dispatcher]
[West] The driver door that I’ve left open had been struck by a bullet.
Given the trajectory, it could have hit me
resulting in a... In a fatal wound.
And I chalk it up to a miracle that it stopped it completely dead in its tracks.
[Luiken]
[dispatcher]
It was a bit of a confusion there
because I’m being told it’s a female driving.
But what I looked at when the truck passed me at the intersection,
looked like it was a male.
So my confusion was is there a man in the car?
Is there... Is it a woman?
Are there two people?
If there’s two people they can split off and try to ambush us.
So this situation is really dangerous.
[West]
[Luiken]
[gunshot]
[Luiken] Second shot went off.
That tells me they definitely don’t care about my safety or anyone else’s safety.
Taking that person into custody is now even more important.
[Luiken]
[dispatcher]
We maintain a position of aggression on the car.
Guns drawn.
[dispatcher] 10-4. 5799.
[West]
[Luiken] And more units start arriving.
[sirens approaching]
[Luiken] Containment is my top priority at this point.
And if there’s two people, it’s harder to contain.
[narrator] The Marion County helicopter is also called in to assist.
[Deputy Joe Jenkins] There had already been shots fired at the police,
So it kind of heightened our awareness and...
And put a little speed in our response.
[bleep]
[Luiken] Now that we’ve got more people,
we’re gonna approach and try to clear the car.
If there’s two people,
that only adds to our possibilities of what could happen.
[Luiken]
[Jenkins]
[Luiken]
[dispatcher]
[Luiken] Putnam County, they’ve given us the name and date of birth.
So I was able to pull up the driver’s license picture.
From looking at the picture,
to going back in my mind of what the driver was when they passed me,
I’m 100% positive that it’s our suspect.
And I knew that we were only looking for one person.
And the suspect is a woman.
[narrator] Corporal Luiken confirms the suspect is Rachel Baggs.
She is already known to police for prior charges, including possession.
[Luiken] There’s a little bit of relief that there’s only one person.
But women are just as capable of causing great harm to other people.
But we’re dealing with someone who’s a dangerous criminal.
We need to get her under control quickly.
The investigation has now turned to where did she go?
[West] The adrenaline is surging through you.
Our suspect is still in possession
of a .45-caliber handgun
that would stop any living, breathing human
dead in their tracks with one pull of the trigger.
When we get on scene, we basically start coordinating
with the ground units to set up a good perimeter
and contain the suspect within a certain area.
We’re constantly visually looking with our eyes
and searching with the camera to see if we can spot the suspect.
When you’re looking from 1,500 to 2,000 feet in the air,
I feel like it’s looking for a needle in a haystack.
The longer it takes to find someone, the further they can go.
God forbid go into a house
and then it’s borderline game over.
[narrator] After almost five hours of searching,
a 911 call comes into Marion County dispatch.
[dispatcher]
[female caller]
[dispatcher]
[female caller]
[dispatcher]
[female caller]
[dispatcher]
My immediate response was relief that we didn’t lose her.
But then it’s quickly replaced with concern,
’cause now she’s in someone else’s backyard.
[dispatcher]
[Jenkins]
Immediately typed in the address.
Got the address from the communications center
and put the camera on the scene.
[Jenkins]
I wasn’t sure if it was the suspect
that we were looking for or not.
[dispatcher]
[SWAT officer]
[Luiken] When we have a dangerous criminal on the loose like this,
we’re gonna get our SWAT team involved
to quickly contain her and get her into custody.
[SWAT officer]
[narrator] The SWAT team arrives at the scene and begins their approach.
[SWAT officer]
[Jenkins] When the SWAT team is approaching her,
it is nerve-wracking but you try not to get worked up.
Ultimately, the only thing that we can provide to people on the ground is information.
[Jenkins]
We were keeping eyes on the suspect
to make sure that she wasn’t going to harm the residents,
or anything like that.
[West] It’s definitely tense.
People are way more prone
to shoot if they feel trapped,
boxed in like they have nowhere to go.
[SWAT officer]
[Jenkins]
[SWAT officer]
Looking through the camera, it appeared that she basically gave up.
Hiding in the woods for several hours tends to do that to people.
It breaks people down mentally.
And then, they decide to come and turn themselves in.
[SWAT officer]
Once the suspect is taken into custody, it’s a big relief,
physically and mentally.
Um, nobody else can get hurt.
[radio beeps]
[Jenkins]
[dispatcher]
It’s a little bit of disbelief on my end that this is finally over.
[officer] You wanna sit down?
[narrator] The suspect is identified as 43-year-old Rachel Baggs.
She is arrested and charged on multiple counts,
including grand theft and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
She is convicted and sentenced to five years in prison.
A situation of this... This magnitude
doesn’t come around very often.
I’ve been doing this job for five and a half years.
It’s the first time and the only time that someone’s shot at me.
We wake up every morning and we put on our bulletproof vests.
I don’t ever wanna make sure it works.
I’m thankful that Deputy West had a good head on his shoulder.
For a trainee who had only been doing the job
for a month and a half, he really impressed me.
[West] After the incident, I, without a doubt,
knew that this was the correct path for me.
Every day my expectations for this job are met, and then some.
Um, I couldn’t think of a better job for me
that I’ve ever done or will ever do.