The Fleeing Felon

4. Exit

4 EXIT TEMPE, ARIZONA

Same Morning

3:00 am

“I can’t believe that bastard tried to get around the crash truck. He could have hit us. He almost hit me,” Chris angrily exclaimed as he forcefully hit the passenger’s side of the dashboard with his fist.

“I know man. These guys are totally out of control.” Ivan tried to calm himself down so that that he wouldn’t be accused of being emotionally unfit as a leader.

“This job’s not worth it,” Chris said.

“Calm down, Chris,” Ivan said. “I’ll talk to Kirby about this.” Ivan’s voice was exasperated while he grabbed the two-way radio.

“Hey, Kirby. This is Ivan.”

“I know who it is,” Kirby barked. “I recognize your voice.”

Ivan was put off by Kirby’s nonchalant response. But that was how Kirby always was, unflinchingly focused on work rather than the squabbles of the team.

“We have two more ramps to block off. This last one was too much. It seems like party-goers are coming home and they are disregarding our signs that the ramps are being worked on.”

Kirby took a deep breath. He had seen this before when he originally worked in the barricade business twenty years ago. Motorists couldn’t care less about the safety of the workers. The motorist would risk the lives of barricade workers so that the motorist could avoid the inconvenience of having to drive a mile or so to exit the freeway. This same callousness was apparent after the last ramp closure.

After contemplating a solution, Kirby asked, “Carlos, you there?”

Carlos was mindlessly listening to music while driving the crash truck to the next ramp, Scottsdale Road. He had apparently not heard the original discussion between Ivan and Kirby. It wasn’t until Kirby called out his name several times over the two-way radio that Carlos finally snapped out of his musical trance.

“I’m here,” he whimpered in embarrassment.

“Carlos, I need you to focus, okay?”

“Okay.”

Carlos gripped the steering wheel firmly and steadied himself for Kirby’s comments.

“Guys. I didn’t think this was going to happen in Tempe, but I should’ve figured that out with all the college students who live here. I’ve dealt with this before. I’m not gonna risk your lives or my life. This job pays good but not that good.” The crew listened attentively to their team leader as he continued. “We are going to close off the Scottsdale Road off-ramp. Entirely. That way we aren’t putting ourselves in danger.”

“How are we going to do that boss?” Ivan inquired.

“Carlos is going to block both lanes of the off-ramp with the crash truck.”

“But that’s not the procedure, boss. He’s only supposed to position the crash truck in one lane so that the scorpion can cushion any crash.”

Ivan tried to picture how the scorpion functioned. It was attached to the rear of the crash truck and was comprised of strut and cartridge sections that are linked together on a yellow and black support frame. The curved side rails, made from aluminum tubes, offered full-width impact protection along the entire length of the scorpion. Ivan knew that the side rails were designed to re-direct errant vehicles away from the rear of the crash truck.

Normally, the crash truck was positioned in the lane behind the area where the crew was working so that motorist couldn’t plow down any of the workers. Unfortunately, while working off the last ramp, motorists were driving around the front of the crash truck because they did not want to be forced to make a left turn when they needed to make a right turn. This made the crash truck ineffective.

“Kirby, if Carlos parks the crash truck diagonally across both lanes, then the scorpion will be positioned at an angle. It will be useless.”

Being accustomed to Ivan’s incessant questioning over the past few months since he decided to jockey for a team leader position, Kirby forcefully retorted, “Look, Ivan. I appreciate your concern but this is the only solution. I’ve done this before in my old job. It works. The cars can see that the ramp is closed and they won’t approach.”

“But..but the crash truck doesn’t have any cushioning mechanism incorporated into its side to absorb any impact.” Ivan added.

He knew questioning his supervisor’s orders was insubordination and that he could be disciplined for this but Ivan believed that safety and following the rules came first.

Before Ivan could finish his comment, Chris interrupted, “Kirby’s right man. We have to think about ourselves,” he said with a stern look. “I’m not making my lady a widow tonight because some drunk doesn’t want to obey the signs. Leave it alone man. It’ll be okay.”

Although Chris did not speak directly into his two-way radio, Kirby could hear his voice faintly enough to make out Chris’ concern. Kirby waited until the two finished their personal conversation before speaking again.

“To ease everyone’s concerns, after I put out the pre-warning signs, I’m gonna watch traffic for a while to see if the cars are veering back onto the freeway,” Kirby said. “If not, then we will reevaluate the situation and make changes. Is that okay with everyone?”

Kirby normally didn’t seek the approval of the crew before making decisions. His word was final but this situation was different given Ivan’s open challenge of his authority.

“I’m fine with that,” Chris eagerly responded.

“That’s cool,” Carlos added.

Ivan did not respond. Chris glared at him waiting for Ivan to speak into the radio.

After a long pause, Ivan reluctantly responded, “I-I-I’m fine with that.”

“Great. We all agree. Carlos, can you block off both lanes?”

“Sure, Kirby.”

As the convoy approached Scottsdale Road exit, Ivan pulled the VP truck to the top of the off-ramp. He and Chris exited the truck and began placing traffic cones to block off traffic. Carlos awkwardly maneuvered the long crash truck so that it blocked both lanes of the off-ramp. It took him several tries to position the truck that way. When Kirby was satisfied that the entire off-ramp was blocked off, he gave Carlos the thumbs up.

Kirby’s sign truck was parked a quarter-mile from the beginning of the off-ramp. He offloaded a pre-warning sign and ensured that it was placed at an angle that motorists could see while driving. He then got back into the sign truck and zeroed out his odometer. He drove up the ramp until the odometer moved one click. He then stopped the truck and put out another pre-warning sign.

Kirby then drove further up the off-ramp, parked the truck, and began watching the sparse traffic.