By ELLIOT SPAGAT - Associated Press Writer - Associated Press
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
A California Highway Patrol report released Wednesday said an officer saw brake lights flashing after arriving to help slow a speeding Toyota Prius on a Southern California freeway.
The lights were on "for a period of time and would turn off, indicating the driver was possibly pumping the brakes," CHP Officer Todd Neibert wrote in his seven-page incident report.
"I was within ΒΌ mile of the vehicle and could smell the heated brakes which indicated they had been used extensively," it states.
The report offered some new details and dozens of photos about events that occurred after driver Jim Sikes called 911 on March 8 to say his gas pedal got stuck on a San Diego-area freeway.
However, it did nothing to clarify the wildly divergent versions of events from Sikes and Toyota Motor Corp.
Neibert also wrote that a Border Patrol agent in an unmarked vehicle with emergency lights flashing was trying to help guide the Toyota to safety. The report didn't say how long the Border Patrol agent had been tracking the Prius in the Chevrolet Tahoe.
"It was staying ahead of us and it was later determined that the agent driving the Chevrolet Tahoe was aware of the situation," Neibert wrote.
The account in the report is consistent with details Neibert and Sikes gave reporters shortly after the incident.
It said the CHP officer trailed the Prius at 95 mph on Interstate 8 east of San Diego, and the car slowed to about 50 mph before the officer told Sikes over a loudspeaker to hit the floor brake and emergency brake simultaneously. Sikes gradually came to an unassisted stop and was not injured.
The car stopped in mountainous terrain 20 miles from a steep downgrade and sharp left turn.
"If the Prius made it to that location, the ultimate result would have most likely led to a catastrophic ending," the officer wrote.
Sikes told Neibert he had tried three times to lift the gas pedal with his hand but was unsuccessful, the report states.
Sikes, 61, was initially reluctant to speak with reporters, but the officer urged him to go to the station to "put the media at ease," according to the report.
"I advised him the media would most likely seek him out if he did not speak to them voluntarily," Neibert wrote.
