Haunted car in Denver

[Tower 4]

Was anyone lucky enough to witness this escapade?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4134916/

Woman's car takes her on 75-mile wild ride

DENVER - A woman was shaken but unhurt after a wild, 75-mile ride at speeds over 100 mph that began when her brakes failed and her car accelerated out of control.

Police finally stopped the car on Interstate 70 in west Denver by getting a cruiser in front of it, slowing gently till their bumpers touched, then bringing both vehicles to a stop.

“It had a mind of its own,” 20-year-old Angel Eck said Sunday. The car “kept accelerating, and my foot wasn’t even down on the gas.”

Eck was westbound on I-70 in Limon Friday night when her 1997 Pontiac Sunfire began racing out of control. Nothing she tried would slow the car down.

She flipped on her hazard lights and dodged traffic while trying her cell phone, but she was out of her service area.

She nearly slammed into the back of a semitrailer and swerved off the highway three times to avoid hitting other vehicles, including one packed with kids, she said.

After about 45 frantic minutes, she was able to reach a friend on her cell phone. He called 911.

Police cleared the highway as Eck made her way across Denver. When it appeared they had no other options, officers Gary Ayers and Troy Bisgard decided to slow Eck’s car with their cruiser.

“It’s a dangerous maneuver. Had they misjudged, one or both cars would have sped out of control. It worked like clockwork,” said officer Kim Lovato, who worked with six other officers to stop the runaway car.

[Pinner]

And she was too stupid to apply the brakes, downshift and kill the ignition.

[Viva]

Hold everything, this was going on for 45 minutes and it took a 911 call from her friend to elicit a response from law enforcement?

[funkendrenchman]

I call bullshit. Pontiac Sunfires can't reach speeds in excess of 100 mph.

[jibij]

Originally posted by Pinner
And she was too stupid to apply the brakes, downshift and kill the ignition.

i saw her on the news last night. she said that neither the clutch or brake pedals would work and the gas was stuck to the floor. she couldn't even turn off the ignition. seems odd, but'd be scary as hell if it really happened that way.

[JMO]

This happened to my Jetta back in college on numerous occasions during a particularly snowy winter on highways and back roads in Vermont. Scared the pants off me. The only way I could get the car to stop accelerating was to turn off the ignition, sometimes going 85 on the highway.

[The AD]

Something's definitely fishy here. How could the clutch not work?

[jibij]

the best part of the story is that the Denver cops said they used a manuever they saw on "CHIPS".

http://www.9news.com/storyfull.aspx?storyid=23860

[Pinner]

Originally posted by jibij
i saw her on the news last night. she said that neither the clutch or brake pedals would work and the gas was stuck to the floor. she couldn't even turn off the ignition. seems odd, but'd be scary as hell if it really happened that way.

Grab the shifter, pop it in neutral. Duh...


Not saying that the car didn't malfunction and that she wasn't freaked out, but the fact remains that people are fucking stupid. It's easier to get a drivers license in this country than it is to buy a gallon of milk. I swear there's people in this country who have trouble getting on escalators, and yet we hand them a cell phone and a 4,000lb vehicle and let them loose on the highways. For further evidence of how stupid people are, just look at how long that thread about dumbfucks driving off with the gas hose still attached. I mean fucking PLEASE!

[iskibc]

Any drugs involved?

I used to take my dad's old beat up Truck on the dirt roads near the house while smoking the weed and other mind altering substances. There would be times where I felt like the brakes weren't working or they just disappeared from the floorboard. That's when I stopped smoking the laced weed. Bad stuff.

[PlayHarder]

the fact remains that people are fucking stupid. It's easier to get a drivers license in this country than it is to buy a gallon of milk. I swear there's people in this country who have trouble getting on escalators, and yet we hand them a cell phone and a 4,000lb vehicle and let them loose on the highways. For further evidence of how stupid people are, just look at how long that thread about dumbfucks driving off with the gas hose still attached. I mean fucking PLEASE!

Yep, and its the same north of the border.

[JMO]

Originally posted by The AD
Something's definitely fishy here. How could the clutch not work?

If you put the clutch in, you'll blow out the engine since the accelerator is floored. Believe me, I tried that.

[Pinner]

Originally posted by JMO
If you put the clutch in, you'll blow out the engine since the accelerator is floored. Believe me, I tried that.

Your first tip off should be that you were driving a Jetta. Those are for sorority girls and gay men, and the car was trying to tell you that.

[Schmear]

Originally posted by JMO
If you put the clutch in, you'll blow out the engine

Still, an effective way to stop the car....

[JMO]

Originally posted by Pinner
Your first tip off should be that you were driving a Jetta. Those are for sorority girls and gay men, and the car was trying to tell you that.

The car belonged to my sister.

Phew. Close call.

[Pinner]

[tuffy109]

i love my jetta. only poor gay men drive 'em (and yes, i'm poor and gay), the rich ones all have beamers.

[JMO]

Originally posted by Schmear
Still, an effective way to stop the car....

True, true. Just ask Cole Trickle.
http://www.reelmoviefx.com/100-0006_IMG.JPG

[The AD]

Don't most cars have rev limiters that cut the engine when it gets over the redline? If so, it seems like putting the clutch in would be a dandy way of shutting the engine off in this situation.

[Sublime]

Seems petty to try and save a car when everyone else's life in is danger. She should have just put in the clutch in and blown the engine. Instead she just had to risk other people's lives for a Sunfire. Good choice

[CantDog]

If you put the clutch in, you'll blow out the engine since the accelerator is floored. Believe me, I tried that.

Jettas have rev limiters...

She should of money shifted it. That would of slowed it down reeeeeeeal fast. Nothing like a 5-2 downshift or a redline blown 3-4 shift to break things.

[dubu]

That is the stupidest thing ever..

you must be a really big retard not to be able to figure out how to stop a car. What turn the key, take it out of gear (the engine will just bounce off the rev limiter and blowing your engine is much better thank killing someone), and use the breaks. Why not try to just reach down and lift the pedal from the floor..

She probably had a bunch of $hit in the front seat that rolled under the break and clutch pedals and the gas got stuck under the carpet..

I think her license should be revoked..

[The AD]

Here's the thing I didn't see mentioned in the story: what happened when the cops finally stopped the car? Presumably it was still in gear and revving. How much do you want to bet one of the cops reached in and turned off the ignition?

[Dantheman]

I can see her not knowing to blow the engine on her own, but why the fuck didn't the cops tell her to do it?

[Dantheman]

Originally posted by The AD
Here's the thing I didn't see mentioned in the story: what happened when the cops finally stopped the car? Presumably it was still in gear and revving. How much do you want to bet one of the cops reached in and turned off the ignition?

It should have stalled when they stopped.