At one point, before flames were visible, the officer smelled an odor of smoke.
Where There's Smoke There's Fire
Shortly after smelling the smoke, the car caught fire, becoming quickly engulfed in flames. Sources tell The Baltimore Spectator the officer was outside of the car when it became fully involved in the conflagration.
After everything was over, and the smoke literally cleared, the picture at the top is what was left of the patrol car. The car was a total loss.
The president of an area police union told The Baltimore Spectator, he was greatly concerned about a possible factory defect or other inherent issue, potentially making the Chevy Caprice Police Package patrol car, a ticking time bomb.
"We asked Baltimore Police via Twitter to advise what the issue with the car. Not only Baltimore Police, but also Baltimore County, Maryland State Police and Maryland Transportation Authority Police (MDTAP) also use the same make and model police car. We have yet to hear anything," said police union president Shane Schapiro, of the MDTAP Fraternal Order Of Police, Lodge 34, in a statement to The Baltimore Spectator.
Shapiro added; "[it is believed] their mechanics are still trying to diagnose the issue. However we reached out to our fleet coordinator who called Chevrolet. [Chevrolet] advised they had no idea of any issues causing random vehicle fires and that they would be contacting the Baltimore Police Department."In the past other models of patrol cars were known for exploding in rear end impacts.
Some models of police car are available with on board fire suppression systems. To our knowledge, none of the current city fleet are so equipped.
Department insiders have long told The Baltimore Spectator they have numerous maintenance issues with city police cars and lack confidence in the quality of the work done.. One veteran supervisor even went as far as saying poor maintenance issues were to blame for numerous department involved accidents.
It is unclear when and where the incident took place, although sources tell us the car is a newer model, and they believe the incident to be relatively recent.
We're told the officer -- who has not been identified -- was unharmed.
The Baltimore Spectator has sent an inquiry to Baltimore Police. They have not responded.
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Researcher, independent investigator, and entrepreneur, A.F. James MacArthur is Baltimore's most well known independent journalist contributor. A member of the underground news network for over 20 years. During this time, he's been a frequent subject of attack by government under the guise of law enforcement. Although closely watched and followed, he's often boycotted from being given any credit for his work by mainstream media.
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