Some of the Wildest Police Chases on Massachusetts’ SouthCoast

We've all seen them.

Some of our most popular TV shows feature videos with dramatic helicopter footage of dented vehicles pursued by dozens of police cruisers with sirens blazing.

These shows also inevitably depict authorities throwing out spike strips to stop fugitives, or officers wrestling uncooperative suspects outside the car after they come to a final, crashing halt.

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Out of concerns for public safety, police chases have largely given way to a more limited or nuanced approach to pursuing suspects — which may have saved lives.

But that doesn't mean there aren't any more massive manhunts or wild car chases.

There may be fewer of them, but when they do take place, they are certainly memorable — especially if they take place in your neck of the woods.

On the SouthCoast in the past few years alone, we've had a suspect flee across three states after allegedly setting fire to his home; a man who tried to swim away from police after crashing his car; and a low-speed chase in which a man in an allegedly stolen vehicle slowly led police down three different highways... with a flat tire.

One man was even awoken by police after falling asleep behind the wheel of his parked wrong-way car, only to allegedly hit an officer and end up going over 100 miles per hour on the highway.

Here are some of the craziest SouthCoast police chases over the past several years: