***  WATCH ***  STOLEN VEHICLE TAKES OFF FROM COPS AT A HIGH RATE OF SPEED

HYANNIS, Massachusetts –  Earlier this evening, around 7:50 p.m., Patrolman Rogorzenski of the Barnstable Police Department had eyes on a vehicle stolen out of Hyannis last evening. While following, and as you will hear in the following HN Video, the stolen vehicle suddenly took off at a high rate of speed traveling north on Camp Street in West Yarmouth. The area is thickly settled, and it was a busy time of evening in terms of traffic. A decision was quickly made to break off the pursuit. Shortly after disengaging, the stolen Hyundai Sonata was spotted traveling south on Yarmouth Road toward the intersection with Route 28. Officers were quickly saturating the area when the vehicle was found abandoned in front of Pine Harbor Wood Products (326 Yarmouth Road). The vehicle was stopped and running in the middle of the southbound travel lane. The two occupants fled on foot… (at this time it is believed there were two occupants…) Officers from Barnstable and Yarmouth fanned out across the area while a YPD K9 unit began tracking. The track headed back in the direction of Yarmouth but the suspects were not located… HN NOTES, MULLINGS, & FLASHBACKS: “Hotbox” is old (1980s) Boston Police slang for a stolen motor vehicle. In the late 1980s, HN was riding with two plainclothes Boston Police officers in an unmarked “rapid response unit” when we noticed a sedan with a busted out right rear passenger window make a left-hand turn into our travel lane just ahead of us. Officers immediately called in they were behind a likely “hotbox” and we had just crossed the bridge into Charlestown. While waiting for extra units to join in and follow, the occupants of the stolen vehicle made us and took off at high rate of speed. We engaged in an extremely high-speed pursuit up and down the narrow streets of Bunker Hill. It was relatively early in the evening, pedestrian and auto traffic were a concern. Moments into the pursuit, officers decided to disengage due to the chase becoming more and more reckless. The stolen vehicle soon crashed… and was totaled… and I remember we were all amazed the occupants still managed to escape on foot, despite evidence of serious injury. Those were the days before airbags in all the vehicles… the crashed four door sedan did not have airbags… Tonight’s stolen vehicle caper was very similar to the Charlestown “hotbox” pursuit nearly 35 years ago. The only difference being that tonight’s fleeing vehicle did not crash, very likely because Barnstable officers made the wise decision to break things off early. It was a good call not to engage in a high-speed pursuit in this particular case. (It’s uncertain whether Boston cops still use the term “hotbox.”) The following HN Video highlights this evening’s stolen vehicle recovery and search… [HN VIDEO – PRESS PLAY] P.S. – Today’s Hytown Vignette is a brought to you by Vanilla Fudge…  [CLICK IT/CRANK IT! HEADPHONES ABSOLUTELY OBLIGATORY!]