The Blockade by Doug Dein

Occurrence Date Unknown

As a one-man unit, Doug recalled an incident on morning watch but there were also 3 other units assigned. The department was seeing growth. They received a radio call at approximately 0300 from Station 50, the net control out of Santa Ana. There was a pursuit of a drunk driver southbound on Pacific Coast Highway from Seal Beach. The officers on duty at Station 43 decided they would take their four police units and block all four lanes of the Santa Ana river bridge with red lights activated. They could hear on the radio the Seal Beach unit transmitting to his station and to Control. California Highway Patrol and Huntington Beach joined in the pursuit. They were all headed for the blockade on the bridge at about 80-90 mph. The Newport officers knew if they stood next to their units, there was an excellent possibility they would get killed so they backed off 20 to 40 feet. The suspect was in a 1956 Pontiac wagon, with the big bumpers, and with no let up, flat out. Doug even recalls his unit was #101, a black and white Ford police interceptor parked in the outside lane. The suspect vehicle struck his unit and totaled it. It was still dark outside. Doug happened to be the closest officer to the scene of the collision, so he walked up to the suspect vehicle with his flashlight in one hand and his 6-inch Smith and Wesson K in the other. The suspect exited his vehicle, unhurt, and stated to Officer Dein ‘What do you want?’ Doug told him it was obvious. He had just wiped out his police unit. The suspect asked him what he was going to do about it. At this point all of the officers involved were ‘quite disturbed’ about the situation, Doug in particular. The suspect had the nerve to take a swing at Dein. Being prepared with flashlight and gun, he struck the suspect across the forehead with his 6 inch K model and put him down to his knees. At this point, the suspect was informed he was under arrest and immediately got up fighting. Officer Phil Hall then walked up, and he jumped on the suspect with Dein. A ‘physical altercation’ ensued. While this was taking place, the Seal Beach officer was standing there, watching all of this, with his mouth open. Doug asked the Seal Beach officer, ‘Sonny, if you’ve got time, would you open the rear door of your unit. This is your arrest.’ Officers Hall and Dein took the guy on each side, like a sack of potatoes, lifted him, and threw him in the back seat. The suspect slid through on the seat, and bumped his head on the opposite side door. But, as Hall and Dein were walking away, the suspect still had enough fight left in him to kick the window out of the car. This disturbed them. Hall and Dein removed the suspect from the Seal Beach unit, got some rope out of the trunk of a unit, hog tied him, threw him back in the unit where he ‘bumped’ his head again on the opposite door. (While back at the station writing his report, Officer Hall came up to Doug and asked to see his gun. The cylinder on the gun wouldn’t open. It was bent. The gun was sent back to Smith and Wesson, along with the story, and was replaced free of charge.)