Police chased a runaway BMW SUV as it sped down a Florida interstate at 95mph after the gas pedal apparently became stuck and unable to slow down.
Sirens blared and lights flashed as cops tore after the car for nearly 40 miles on Monday.
The driver managed to stay calm while authorities did their best to stop him and bring the chase to and end.
Joseph Cooper drove his 2003 BMW X5 down almost 40 miles of Florida highway on Monday, at speeds of up to 95 miles per hour. Here he was caught on police dash cam speeding by
Eventually Cooper was able to stop but he had traveled some 40 miles up I-95. White smoke can be seen pouring from his vehicle
Cooper ended up driving some 40 miles up Interstate 95 in south Florida
He had the good sense to call 911 to inform a dispatcher what was going on telling them calmly: ‘my gas pedal is stuck.’
But a BMW spokesperson has cast doubt on the scenario calling it ‘implausible’ and said there were numerous ways in which the driver could have stopped the car.
‘We would be happy to work with the Florida State Police to investigate the cause of this incident,’ the company added.
Driver, Joseph Cooper, told emergency dispatchers that he was alone in his SUV on I-95 near Vero Beach just before 1 p.m. when he lost control.
A police officer attempted to slow the vehicle down by preparing to throw some spikes acrosss the rooad
The officer can be seen on his own dish cam throwing the strip of strikes across the road. The first attempt, the BMW missed, on the second two left tires were punctured and on the third, two right tired were flattened
The phone operator asked if he could shift his car into to neutral but he told the dispatcher it was not possible: ‘I can’t, ma’am, I tried that already. I’m trying to hold onto the wheel and talk to you at the same time.’
They told him to try manually decelerating while on cruise control, but Cooper again said nothing worked.
‘Ma’am, I’m in a BMW and if I slam that over, it’s going to drop down a gear and I really don’t want that to happen,’ he told her. ‘It could spin me out.’
The operator then asked if he had an emergency brake in the car.
‘Yeah, but I’m not pulling that at no 100 miles an hour, ma’am,’ he said. ‘I’m sorry.’
At one point he appeared to tell the dispatcher that he almost hit someone.
‘Get out of the way!’ he was heard to yell on the recording.
Authorities then tried to slow down the car using spiked sticks which are laid across the road and designed to puncture the tires but Cooper managed to avoid them also.
Cooper can be seen in the center of the picture after police finally brought his car to a stop
Further down the freeway the highway patrol once again threw out the ‘stop sticks’ spikes and this time managed to blow out two right tires. The car slowed to 60 mph.
Dashcam video released by the Fellsmere Police Department shows an officer deploying spike strips on the interstate in their third and final deployment.
This time, the attempt was a success with the spike strips piercing the remaining two left tires.
The car slowed to 40mph but Cooper said that he was still unable to stop.
‘The vehicle was traveling on all four rims with no tire,’ the highway patrol said.
Eventually, the SUV came to a complete stop and video shows smoke surrounding the vehicle.
Police closed the road while they dealt with the incident and questioned Cooper, seen far left
BMW says the likelihood of its gas pedal becoming fixed to the floor is ‘implausible’
BMW have released a statement expressing doubt over the entire situation stressing the various safety features of their vehicles.
All BMW vehicles, including the 2003 X5 described in this incident, employ an electronic accelerator pedal which uses software logic to override the accelerator whenever the brake pedal is pressed while driving.
BMW say the the 2003 X5 described in this incident has a number of safety features to prevent it from speeding away in an uncontrolled manner such as this
This means that the vehicle detects that both pedals are depressed, the on-board electronics will reduce engine power so that the driver may stop safely.
Also, the accelerator pedal in BMW vehicles is hinged at the bottom, and mounts to the floor. Therefore, an object or floor mat cannot slide under the accelerator pedal and jam it.
The vehicle could also have been stopped by two additional means: By placing the transmission in neutral and coasting to a stop and/or by shutting off the ignition without removing the key.
This is accomplished by turning the key counterclockwise. The engine would have shut off and the driver could have safely coasted the vehicle to a stop.
The entire chase lasted for 40 miles and miraculously, no one was injured, Lt. Alvaro Feola of the Florida Highway Patrol told ABC News that despite the dangerous situation, Cooper did everything right.
‘He called 911, he wore a seat belt, he kept the dispatch aware of the mile markers,’ Feola said.
‘Thank God in this situation nobody got hurt,’ Feola added. ‘Traffic was maybe a little light, it wasn’t rush hour.’
BMW have released a statement expressing doubt over the entire situation stressing the various safety features of their vehicles.
Scott Newsom from the Fellsmere PD ended up giving a series of TV interviews after the event
‘All BMW vehicles, including the 2003 X5 described in this incident, employ an electronic accelerator pedal which uses software logic to override the accelerator whenever the brake pedal is pressed while driving.
‘This fail-safe software means that if the vehicle detects that both pedals are depressed, the on-board electronics will reduce engine power so that the driver may stop safely.
‘Furthermore, the accelerator pedal in BMW vehicles is hinged at the bottom, and mounts to the floor. Therefore an object or floor mat cannot slide under the accelerator pedal and jam it.
‘The vehicle could also have been stopped by two additional means: By placing the transmission in neutral and coasting to a stop and/or by shutting off the ignition without removing the key.
‘This is accomplished by turning the key counterclockwise. The engine would have shut off and the driver could have safely coasted the vehicle to a stop.’