First Tacoma. First Helicopter Chase | Plus B.S.

Hey guys! First Tacoma and new member to the forums. You guys have already been a big help so I figured I'd share a quick story about my Tacoma.

I recently purchased a 2015 Toyota Tacoma TRD Off-Road back in August (2016). Truck had 22,8xxmi on it. So upon receiving the vehicle, I called a friend over to my dad's house in to see the truck. We began going for a ride and he asks,"Well it has the Off-Road package, would you like to see what it can do?" I say,"Sure you know a place?" So we begin going back behind some neighborhoods and the grass comes up to the bottom of the windows on the truck, there is nothing out there but us, a few deer and some pipeline signs. A few minutes later a helicopter flies over us pretty low. I assumed it was landing at the nearby airport and we kept going about our business. A few minutes go by and my friend, describing the vacantness of the area proclaims, "You could hide a body back here..." At this time I notice the helicopter circling above us. we continue on for another 5 minutes and yup... the helicopter is following us. So I turn around, we start to head home and I get some gas. I look up, there it is, the police helicopter circling me at the gas station. As I pull out of the gas station, two HPD squad cars go roaring up the other side of the median. They got stuck at the light so I went straight home. My friend asks,"What are we going to do?!" I just said,"going home so we can get this over with." So I pull into the driveway and had my license and CHL ready to hand to the officer, I open the door and before my foot even touches the ground I hear, "KEEP YOUR HANDS WHERE I CAN SEE THEM!" So I put my hands up, slowly walk back to the back of the truck. Drop my keys in the bed and carefully hand my license and CHL to the driver of the closest police car who is behind his car door with his hand on his pistol. "I assume this is about the off-roading" I inquired. "Oh yeah.."

So they run my license and CHL and ask me the standard questions. "Do you have any fire-arms or weapons on you or in the vehicle?"
-"No sir, no guns, no weapons, just a pocket knife in my pocket"
"Ok just keep your hands where I can see them"

"What were you doing back there?"
-I pointed to the paper plates on the truck.."I just bought the truck yesterday, It has the Off-road package, I just wanted to see what it could do. I wasn't trying to do anything malicious."

At this time my father pulls up to the house, returning from breakfast to see me and my best friend surrounded by three cops, two squad cars with sirens and lights and a helicopter over head circling. I can see him mouthing some four letter words through the glass. I hear the helicopter pilot radio in,"Is that our guy?" "Negative." They hand back my license and CHL and say,"A vehicle matching the description of your truck was used in a kidnapping around here and you are WAY too close to Ellington Military Air Base.. If you want to go off-roading go to Galveston or somewhere else, but DO NOT go back there again." - Yes sir!

So I got let go with a warning and a stern talking to from my dad and a few neighbors. I had a lot of explaining to do. So I call my uncle who used to fly apaches for the army and ask him what it would cost to circle a truck from a chopper and track it for about 20 minutes. He asks me to pull out a calculator and runs me through some calculations and then adds cost of pilot,observer, and then maintenance and maintenance crew. He said it would roughly have been $4,000-5,000 for the 20 minutes. So basically I had the equivalent of 3 stars on Grand Theft Auto... The rest of the day I was breathing heavy sighs of relief as the adrenaline wore off.

That being said... Meet Trouble, the Tacoma


UPDATE 10/22/2018 - Went to the airshow at Ellington yesterday and ran into the helicopter and crew that chased after me. Shook their hands, chatted for a bit and took a quick picture.

 

Welcome to TW

So you didn't have one of these tailgate wraps?

 

That, sir, is quite the story

 

I must say I'm glad I logged on today. Great story!!! Congrats on the truck!

 

Nice, sounds like a great first day with the truck. Welcome to tw and that story got me excited because I grew up by ellington myself! Your neighborhood looks like mine too, Id bet either bay glen or bay knoll lol!

 

AWESOME!

 

Haha! I would have been tazed!

 

You got it! Bay Glen! Graduated from Clear Brook highschool in 2009. I knew Ellington was back there, but we never hit the fence so I thought we were safe. Learned my lesson.

 

Hi Devin
x2 ... Welcome to TW, Trouble.

 

Crazy!! Welcome to the site and thanks for the story.

 

Great story, welcome!

 

Welcome to TW Awesome story

 

Welcome to the club!

 

Haha thats funny! I moved away before I went to brook, but was class of 2011 so we probably know some of the same people! Yeah I imagine they wouldn't be too happy with that. Nice tacoma though, and be careful with this site you'll end up wondering where all your money went and then come out to a badass looking tacoma in your driveway

 

HAHAHAHA why have I never seen this.. Thats awesome!

 

OP, welcome to the forum, congrats on the new taco and achieving level 3 stars and walking away alive.

 

Welcome! Probably the BEST first taco Experience story EVER!! And, a HELL of a way for the taco to earn it's name!

 

Epic story bro

 

Thanks! Long live Trouble