thumb|PIT maneuver diagram (animated GIF image)
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thumb|[[California Highway Patrol cruisers using a PIT maneuver to disable a fleeing vehicle]]
The PIT maneuver (precision immobilization technique), also known as TVI (tactical vehicle intervention or tactical vehicle interception), is a law enforcement pursuit tactic in which a pursuing vehicle suddenly laterally strikes the side-rear of the pursued vehicle, thus causing the pursued vehicle to swing around and come to an unplanned stop. Ideally, forces of motion cause the struck vehicle to "pinwheel" around its own center axis and wind up facing the opposite direction of travel. The technique was developed in the late 1980s by BSR Inc., a law enforcement training center in West Virginia, and was first used by the Fairfax County Police Department in Virginia, United States, in 1988. Some law enforcement agencies use the PIT maneuver regularly to end vehicle pursuits; some use it only under certain conditions, and others avoid its use altogether for safety reasons. Forces of motion tend to cause the fleeing vehicle to spin. At high speeds, the sudden lateral movement can lead to rollover collisions.
History
The PIT originated in West Virginia during the late 1980s with a goal of halting fleeing vehicles as "tactical vehicle interception (T.V.I.)". The first U.S. law enforcement agency to teach PIT was the Fairfax County Police Department in Virginia, which modified the technique's parameters for initiation and execution in police tactics.
Controversy
While some police departments in the United States consider the PIT maneuver as an intermediate force option that can end a pursuit, others, like the state of Illinois, consider "forcible stop techniques" to be "use of deadly force" if performed at speed (above 20 mph; 32 km/h).
Police pursuit policies in general—and the PIT maneuver specifically—are controversial because of risk of injury or death to both involved and uninvolved. The PIT maneuver has been linked to at least 30 fatalities between 2016 and 2020. Additionally, in September 2023, an Arkansas State Trooper resigned after performing a PIT maneuver on the wrong vehicle during a high-speed chase.
On Dec. 4, 2018, police in South Fulton, Georgia, performed a PIT maneuver on a stolen Hyundai Sonata while passing a cluster of townhouses, spinning the car into a utility pole with power lines. The driver ran from the scene and evaded capture. However, the Hyundai hit and killed a 41-year-old man named Marcus McCrary who happened to be walking on the sidewalk there.
In March of 2025 one passenger died and three were injured after Arkansas State Police performed a PIT maneuver while chasing a pickup truck on I-40. Police found firearms, promethazine and other illicit substances in the truck, and charged the driver of the truck with first-degree murder for the passenger's death.