The final 3-plus minutes of Monday's "Runaway Prius" (quotes intentional) incident near San Diego:
Smart 911 dispatcher...asks James Sikes if the car is in cruise control.
No answer.
Tells him to hold the ignition button down for 3 seconds.
No answer.
Repeats the instruction.
No answer.
The CHP says the 911 call totalled 23 minutes...and the dispatcher repeatedly asked Sikes if he'd tried putting the car in neutral....and pleads with him to do so. The one answer she got:
"I'm trying to control the car."
Only when a CHP cruiser arrives on the scene...giving him the same instructions over the PA system (and an eyewitness), does he seem to do it.
Hmm.
Look, I know I've cautioned against rushing to judgement on either side (drivers or Toyota), but this one has way more questions than answers. The only thing more breathless than the media coverage is Sikes himself on the 9-1-1 tape...and he says he's doing 84 miles per hour.
Take it from a native. On a Southern California freeway, unless it's rush hour (and this wasn't), you're getting passed if you're doing 84.
State, federal and Toyota investigators are examining the car. I suggest we put the entire story under the same microscope.
