Dash Cam
My name is Winston Arrall and I have been a police officer for over ten years now. I’ve seen plenty of awful things, from bad accidents to dead children. Most days in the city are pretty normal with nothing major happening, but every once in a while something big happens. I wouldn’t call this big, but it is the most fucked up thing that’s ever happened to me on the job.
A couple years on back I was sitting at a stoplight. It was late in the afternoon, but plenty of sun left in the day. My shift was nearly over and I was on my way back to HQ. Wasn’t much traffic in this part of town but that’s no excuse for running a red light. Almost hit this blue Hyundai hatchback as it came through the intersection. Some old woman who wasn’t going fast; just moseying through. Probably didn’t even know the light had changed. I do feel bad about pulling over the elderly, but this lady was gonna cause a bad accident if I didn’t set her straight.
So I hit my lights and take off after her. I caught up in seconds; the car was doing the speed limit. I ran the license plate and sure enough it was an older woman, in her sixties by the look of it. I couldn’t scrutinize all her details since I had to keep my eyes on road, but there were no infractions, not even so much as a parking ticket. I radioed it in, as protocol mandates, not expecting any trouble, but after a good half a minute it became clear she wasn’t going to pull over.
Then the car took off like a bat out of hell. The woman suddenly had a lead foot. I pursued, worried I’d underestimated her, and a chase began. I updated dispatch but I requested no backup. I hoped there was just a simple misunderstanding and that I could resolve this quietly. I know from experience that sometimes more officers can make a situation worse.
It was one of the weirdest car chases I’ve ever been in – not that I’ve been in many. First, she sped down the road, then, oddly, came to a stop at a red light. There were two lanes and instead of stopping behind her car I pulled up beside her to see inside, see if I could tell she knew what she was doing.
What I saw inside the car was a shadow. Her windows weren’t tinted, and given the amount of daylight there shouldn’t have been any glare on the glass. But I couldn’t see her; just a silhouette. I was rolling down the passenger window to yell to her when the light changed and she carried on her way. This wasn’t like a regular offender; it’s like she didn’t even know I was there, or at least didn’t care.
I continued my pursuit, more out of curiosity than duty. While following I noticed all the car’s windows were now black. I knew they weren’t like that before because I saw the back of her head earlier in through the rear window – and my dash cam can verify this. How or why they changed was a mystery.
She began driving in a circle; not in the middle of the road, but by taking rights nine or ten times in a row. I tried to keep track of where we were heading, but the streets seemed to change. I know it’s not possible, but even though we were going around the same block over and over, the roads and buildings changed. Later that night I checked the footage on my dash cam and confirmed it was true. I watched it several times to make sure: I’d been driving down roads that shouldn’t have been there.
Soon, I was lost. I had to do my job, and did my best to focus, but when I saw we were down by the pier, even though we should still have been in the city, I was seriously confused. I couldn’t even report in where I was, since I didn’t exactly know. Also strange: traffic was almost nonexistent. I began to fall behind in the chase as I tried to get my bearings. I almost didn’t see her pull over. I slammed on my brakes, almost rear-ending her. She quickly jumped out of the car and ran around the front, darting through what looked like a bay door of an old warehouse.
However old this woman was, she could move. I wasn’t able to get a decent look at her, but she was dressed head to toe in black, like she’d just been at a funeral or something. I hopped out after her, radioing dispatch my position down by the water, hoping it was enough for backup to locate me.
The warehouse was empty, but it didn’t seem abandoned; it was too tidy for that. A few more bay doors were left open on the far side, letting in lots of light. Dozens of metal fabricating machines were all over the place, and she could be hiding anywhere among them. I had to be careful. I didn’t want to assume everyone had left for the day since everything was still open, and I wanted to find someone to talk to, explain why I was there, what the situation was, maybe even enlist some assistance. But no one was around and the place was quiet.
That is, until I noticed movement on the catwalk above me. I glanced up to see the woman, quiet as a shadow, running along the metal walkway and into a surveying room at the top of the building. It was a good three stories up, and I was amazed that she’d gotten up there so quickly. I couldn’t even have climbed up there that fast. I found the metal stairs in the corner of the building and began climbing, never once taking my eyes off the door of the room she’d entered.
At the top of the stairs I drew my gun. I rarely have to do it, and it makes me nervous. Still, this woman had run from me for some reason, and now she was trapped. But I’d already underestimated her, so better safe than sorry.
As I drew hear the office I called out, “Hello! My name is Officer Arral. I tried to pull you over for running a red light. I don’t know why you ran but you must stop now. Talk to me. Whatever your situation is I’d like to help.” I meant it all. I didn’t want to arrest her. I’d be willing to let it all go under the right circumstances. Despite calling it in, and all the footage on my dash cam – which legally I’m not allowed to edit or alter – if it was all just a misunderstanding then I could just give her the ticket and let her be on her way with a strict warning about everything else. But I didn’t think I’d have much of a choice, especially if she didn’t cooperate.
As I feared, I was met with silence.
Cursing under my breath, I crept up to the door, hunched over to sneak under the office windows that ran along the wall. I knew this could go sideways at any minute. I didn’t know what her story was. I didn’t know if anyone else was in the room with her. I didn’t know what she was capable of – and so far this old woman had so far been pretty unpredictable.
“I’m coming into the room now,” I called, so there’d be no excuse that I was sneaking up on her. It was the best way to calm a suspect down, to tell them your every move. I glanced through the doorway. All was quiet. Nothing moved. I stood and entered the room. No lights were on, but enough daylight was coming in through the windows to illuminate the desks and computer equipment. To illuminate that the room wasn’t large and there was nowhere to hide. To illuminate that she wasn’t there.
The office had one door, and it only took a cursory glance to tell none of the windows opened. Quickly checking under the desks and anywhere she could possibly be hiding, I found nothing. Had I been chasing a ghost? I know I saw her up here, and I never lost sight of this office, but was it possible that I’d been mistaken? Perhaps she’d ran somewhere else? I glanced back around me to the warehouse floor. She couldn’t have jumped, not without breaking something. And there was only one staircase.
I swore quietly as I thought of her car, and ran back down the stairs. The whole time I was up here she might be down there. She could’ve easily gotten back in her car and drove off. I was an idiot, and sure enough, when I got back outside her car was nowhere in sight. I swore again, loudly this time, letting loose a string of profanities which no one was around to hear, thankfully.
I got back in my car and checked the dashcam, figuring I could at least learn which way she went, then update dispatch. What I saw seriously spooked me.
Her car was there, driver door still open. It was there for a few minutes before it slowly started to move on its own, as if someone was pushing it. The car turned into the road, doing a u-turn and giving a view through the open door that showed it was empty, before slowly disappearing from view. Not two seconds later I appeared on screen, running out of the warehouse. I watched myself swearing on the camera, looking for a car that still should’ve been there. If what the dashcam had recorded was accurate – and there’s no reason why it shouldn’t be – the woman’s car should have been a dozen feet away from the cruiser. But it had simply vanished.
Furthermore, where had the woman gone? She hadn’t gotten into the car, and there was no sight of her anywhere.
Completely baffled, I got back in my car and returned to the station. I told everyone what happened and they all saw the footage from the dashcam, and no one could explain it. I wouldn’t believe it myself if I didn’t have the evidence.
To this day it still haunts me, and every time I see a blue Hyundai Elantra hatchback I have a mini freak out, but the actual car was never seen again.
[Author’s note: Some information has been altered or withheld at the request of those involved in the incident]
The Chris Effect 
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