August 9 – Florida Man Engages in 18-Wheeler High-Speed Chase

Christopher John Lubowski took Florida law enforcement officers on a high speed chase for more than two and a half hours. This chase included a series of loops and U-turns and ended with an arrest for evasion of police and possession of meth.

The police were alerted to Lubowski and his erratic driving after a series of wobbly entrances and exits from the interstate. This wobbling brought him very close to many other vehicles and to many police officers, working to get him and his big rig under control. His decision to engage in a U-turn actually brought him into oncoming traffic for a time.

This dramatic chase ended with many police holding guns on the driver as he finally stopped and exited the truck. It’s a good reminder to keep both an eye out for other vehicles and an ear out for sirens; a dangerous driver can do a lot of damage before the police can stop a vehicle of any size.

An 18 wheeler driven by a professional driver with all of their faculties in place can take up to 600 feet to stop. If you see or hear a high speed chase and note that a large vehicle is included in the parade, it’s a good idea to just get off the road and out of the way. Because the driver, Lubowski, had made several dangerous choices, officers had to take out the tires of the big rig.

Once a tire is blown or taken out, an 18 wheeler can become completely uncontrollable. Again, driver awareness is key. If you are following the speed limit and aren’t being followed by a police car, you still need to note who is being chased and what they’re driving.

See Also:

• Florida Man Report – August 8
• Florida Man Headlines – August 7
• Florida Man News – August 6

August 9 – Florida Cop Crashes Three Vehicles In a Year, But the Last One Counted!

Fort Lauderdale police officer Karl Hirsch was having a tough year. He’d backed into a car while driving his squad car and damaged the wheel of the vehicle he hit. Then he entered an intersection without right of way and struck another driver.

The third accident was an intentional choice to stop a car that had children in the back seat but no driver. For reasons unknown, three adults chose to take two children with them while they robbed a store. Mom and the two children were in the back seat while two adults were in the front.

After the robbery, the two adults in front chose to take off, leaving the car both uncontrolled and in gear. A sheriff from Broward County maneuvered is unmarked F-150 in front of the car to slow it down. When Hirsch attempted to get close to the car to complete the barricade, he lost control of his cruiser and hit the car. Nobody in the getaway car, a black Infiniti, was injured.

For this third accident, Hirsch has received a suspension.

There are many questions about both the incident and the punishment. If this had been Hirsch’s first accident, would there have been an investigation and a suspension? Since he received a write-up and was required to undergo more training for the previous accidents, we doubt it.

However, it’s important to consider that a driving incident that includes hitting a car is very different from a driving incident that includes stopping a car, especially if the process of stopping the car includes not injuring visible children inside the car. It’s also notable that at least one of the back doors was open and the feet of one of the children was visible!