Just got a Husker red car

[HUSKER 37]

 

... I have and always will be partial to the good ole reliable Crown Vic. Although I now drive a F250 as my unmarked.

 

 

Careful with the Crown Victorias.

We lost 2 officers and another got his hands and most of his face burned off in separate rear end collisions.

 

The Governer out here has been trying to get the state out of the contract with Ford ...Even with the special gastank liners.

 

After 43 operations, cop caught in blaze is rebuilding his face, life

Google Jason Schechterle for the after pictures

 

December 9, 2003

 

BY JENNIFER DIXON

FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

 

PHOENIX -- Jason Schechterle was burned so badly when his Crown Victoria Police Interceptor caught fire that the flames mangled his hands, seared away most of his nose and ears and scorched his brown eyes, leaving him blind for seven months.

 

Forty-three operations and more than two years after a taxi plowed into the rear of his police car at a Phoenix intersection, doctors have rebuilt Schechterle's ears. His nose is a work in progress. The skin of his face is a patchwork of scars. Contacts allow him to see through milky colored eyes.

 

Schechterle, 31,can drive now and is back to work at the Phoenix Police Department as a public information officer. He's also learning how to play golf again. But he can't put in his contactson his own, can't tie his shoes and can't button his shirt.

 

He takes his son Zane, 5, to soccer practice and his stepdaughter, Kiley, 9, to dance lessons. But he still dreads running into strangers in grocery stores or at the drive-through lane of a fast-food restaurant.

 

"It's a constant battle going out in public looking like this," he said in September. "You never, ever go unnoticed. The stares, the whispers, the nudges, the 'Hey, look at that.' I try not to let it bother me. But each new place I go, it happens."

 

'Fire was unbelievable'

 

 

Schechterle before the accident.

 

 

Schechterle was on patrol the night of March 26, 2001. He was stopped at an intersection when a taxi transporting a man just released from jail slammed into the back of his 1996 Crown Victoria. The taxi's speed is in dispute -- somewhere between 85 and 115 m.p.h. Everyone in the taxi survived; according to Schechterle, the taxi driver was having an epileptic seizure.

 

On the advice of his lawyer, Schechterle would not discuss whether he believes the police car would have caught fire if the gas tank were in another spot.Schechterle is suing Ford and the case is set for trial in Phoenix in May.But in testimony before a Texas legislative committee last April, he blamed the car's design for the fire that nearly killed him.

 

Ford officials say the location of the gas tank doesn't matter in such wrecks -- high-speed and high-impact.

 

The Crown Vic's gas tank was crushed and punctured at least twice, with one of the holes blamed on a mounting screw.

 

"The fire was unbelievable," said Officer Kevin Chadwick, who arrived at the scene after the crash, unaware of who had been injured. "The car was completely on fireand completely smashed. Black smoke and flames were swirling around the car, and I saw the silhouette of a body in there."

 

A fire truck just happened to be at the intersection when Schechterle's patrol car was hit. The firefighters on the scene put out the blaze, and Chadwick raced to the patrol car. He found the victim trappedin his seat belt. Chadwickcut the belt and freed him.

 

Chadwick's partner ripped the officer's metal name tab off his clothes and discovered it was Schechterle. Chadwick couldn't believe it.

 

By then, the burned officer was in the ambulance. Chadwick ran to the ambulance, pulled the man's wallet out of his pants pocket and saw that it really was Schechterle, the 28-year-old father and husband.

 

Eight minutes after the accident, Schechterle was at the hospital.

 

He spent the next 2 1/2 months in a coma.

 

Doctors warned the family that when he awoke, he wouldn't want to be alive and would hate them for making him live, his mother, Karen Schechterle, remembers.

 

When he awoke, he was blind. Thankfully, he said, he couldn't see himself in the mirror as his wife, Suzie, told him what had happened.

 

"There were plenty of tears, but every night I would crawl into his hospital bed and hold him" she recounted on his Web site, www.officerjason.com.

 

 

Returning to life

 

 

Schechterle came home in August 2001, and his sight returned that fall.

 

And as Suzie Schechterle put it, they made another baby.

 

Their son, Masen, was born 19 months after the accident on Oct. 29, 2002.

 

Schechterle said that before his accident, he knew there might be a problem with the Crown Victoria because two Arizona troopers had burned to death in 1998and2000when their cruisers were rear-ended.

 

But he didn't think about it much as he got behind the wheel of his patrol car at the start of his shift.

 

Now, he considers himself a voice for the 18 officers who havedied in rear-impact crashes in their Crown Vics, "who won't go home to their families every night like I do."

 

Schechterle's home is a stucco house in asubdivision west of Phoenix.

 

The words "hope," "happiness" and "love" are etched into tiles leading to the front door. Inside, it is a busy place, between his kids, visits from his parents, grandfather and his mother-in-law, Louise Knowles, and the overweight golden retriever, Tanner, born on the day of his accident. Suzie Schechterle bought Tanner, one of a litter of 13, to keep her husband company during his recovery.

 

She has devoted a wall in the living room to her husband's life-changing experience. There's his badge, soot still clinging to the metal. There's the knife used to free him from his seat belt. And there are pictures of him greeting President George W. Bush on the tarmac at the airport in Phoenix, throwing the first ball at an Arizona Diamondbacks game and carrying the Olympic torch.

 

Schechterle says he tries to be an inspiration to others.

 

He doesn't mind sharing his story, but he doesn't like it when someone tells him, "I thought I had problems until I saw you."

 

"Sometimes life is not what you expect," he said. "But it's still your life, and it's very short."

[HuskerTrucker]

 

... I have and always will be partial to the good ole reliable Crown Vic. Although I now drive a F250 as my unmarked.

 

 

Careful with the Crown Victorias.

We lost 2 officers and another got his hands and most of his face burned off in separate rear end collisions.

 

The Governer out here has been trying to get the state out of the contract with Ford ...Even with the special gastank liners.

 

After 43 operations, cop caught in blaze is rebuilding his face, life

Google Jason Schechterle for the after pictures

 

December 9, 2003

 

BY JENNIFER DIXON

FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

 

PHOENIX -- Jason Schechterle was burned so badly when his Crown Victoria Police Interceptor caught fire that the flames mangled his hands, seared away most of his nose and ears and scorched his brown eyes, leaving him blind for seven months.

 

Forty-three operations and more than two years after a taxi plowed into the rear of his police car at a Phoenix intersection, doctors have rebuilt Schechterle's ears. His nose is a work in progress. The skin of his face is a patchwork of scars. Contacts allow him to see through milky colored eyes.

 

Schechterle, 31,can drive now and is back to work at the Phoenix Police Department as a public information officer. He's also learning how to play golf again. But he can't put in his contactson his own, can't tie his shoes and can't button his shirt.

 

He takes his son Zane, 5, to soccer practice and his stepdaughter, Kiley, 9, to dance lessons. But he still dreads running into strangers in grocery stores or at the drive-through lane of a fast-food restaurant.

 

"It's a constant battle going out in public looking like this," he said in September. "You never, ever go unnoticed. The stares, the whispers, the nudges, the 'Hey, look at that.' I try not to let it bother me. But each new place I go, it happens."

 

'Fire was unbelievable'

 

 

Schechterle before the accident.

 

 

Schechterle was on patrol the night of March 26, 2001. He was stopped at an intersection when a taxi transporting a man just released from jail slammed into the back of his 1996 Crown Victoria. The taxi's speed is in dispute -- somewhere between 85 and 115 m.p.h. Everyone in the taxi survived; according to Schechterle, the taxi driver was having an epileptic seizure.

 

On the advice of his lawyer, Schechterle would not discuss whether he believes the police car would have caught fire if the gas tank were in another spot.Schechterle is suing Ford and the case is set for trial in Phoenix in May.But in testimony before a Texas legislative committee last April, he blamed the car's design for the fire that nearly killed him.

 

Ford officials say the location of the gas tank doesn't matter in such wrecks -- high-speed and high-impact.

 

The Crown Vic's gas tank was crushed and punctured at least twice, with one of the holes blamed on a mounting screw.

 

"The fire was unbelievable," said Officer Kevin Chadwick, who arrived at the scene after the crash, unaware of who had been injured. "The car was completely on fireand completely smashed. Black smoke and flames were swirling around the car, and I saw the silhouette of a body in there."

 

A fire truck just happened to be at the intersection when Schechterle's patrol car was hit. The firefighters on the scene put out the blaze, and Chadwick raced to the patrol car. He found the victim trappedin his seat belt. Chadwickcut the belt and freed him.

 

Chadwick's partner ripped the officer's metal name tab off his clothes and discovered it was Schechterle. Chadwick couldn't believe it.

 

By then, the burned officer was in the ambulance. Chadwick ran to the ambulance, pulled the man's wallet out of his pants pocket and saw that it really was Schechterle, the 28-year-old father and husband.

 

Eight minutes after the accident, Schechterle was at the hospital.

 

He spent the next 2 1/2 months in a coma.

 

Doctors warned the family that when he awoke, he wouldn't want to be alive and would hate them for making him live, his mother, Karen Schechterle, remembers.

 

When he awoke, he was blind. Thankfully, he said, he couldn't see himself in the mirror as his wife, Suzie, told him what had happened.

 

"There were plenty of tears, but every night I would crawl into his hospital bed and hold him" she recounted on his Web site, www.officerjason.com.

 

 

Returning to life

 

 

Schechterle came home in August 2001, and his sight returned that fall.

 

And as Suzie Schechterle put it, they made another baby.

 

Their son, Masen, was born 19 months after the accident on Oct. 29, 2002.

 

Schechterle said that before his accident, he knew there might be a problem with the Crown Victoria because two Arizona troopers had burned to death in 1998and2000when their cruisers were rear-ended.

 

But he didn't think about it much as he got behind the wheel of his patrol car at the start of his shift.

 

Now, he considers himself a voice for the 18 officers who havedied in rear-impact crashes in their Crown Vics, "who won't go home to their families every night like I do."

 

Schechterle's home is a stucco house in asubdivision west of Phoenix.

 

The words "hope," "happiness" and "love" are etched into tiles leading to the front door. Inside, it is a busy place, between his kids, visits from his parents, grandfather and his mother-in-law, Louise Knowles, and the overweight golden retriever, Tanner, born on the day of his accident. Suzie Schechterle bought Tanner, one of a litter of 13, to keep her husband company during his recovery.

 

She has devoted a wall in the living room to her husband's life-changing experience. There's his badge, soot still clinging to the metal. There's the knife used to free him from his seat belt. And there are pictures of him greeting President George W. Bush on the tarmac at the airport in Phoenix, throwing the first ball at an Arizona Diamondbacks game and carrying the Olympic torch.

 

Schechterle says he tries to be an inspiration to others.

 

He doesn't mind sharing his story, but he doesn't like it when someone tells him, "I thought I had problems until I saw you."

 

"Sometimes life is not what you expect," he said. "But it's still your life, and it's very short."

That is a really bad deal, I feel for this officer. However, I am sure that under the right conditions, this could probably happen with any vehicle. Anytime you have 10-20 gallons of gasoline, and you hit it at high speed, there isn't much your going to do to avoid a fire.

[HUSKER 37]

That is a really bad deal, I feel for this officer. However, I am sure that under the right conditions, this could probably happen with any vehicle. Anytime you have 10-20 gallons of gasoline, and you hit it at high speed, there isn't much your going to do to avoid a fire.

 

But I think the main problem with the Crown Vic. was the location of the gas tank and it's suceptability to even a medium-to-low speed impact causing a tear in the gas tank..It's worse than the old pickups where the tank was directly behind the seats.

 

Although I'm not an Engineer, and I thought most autos had the gas tank in the rear, it probably has something to do with the bumper impacting the brackets and/or screws.

 

Ford's response was a plastic liner inside the tank that would add ~$1200/car or ~$1800 to retrofit if I remember right.

 

I doubt the Crown Vics you would get at a Police Auction would have the modifications for awhile.

 

The last fatality happened on an intersection a mile from where I worked where the car that struck the Crown Vic from behind had only gone 20'-25' after making a Left turn after the light turned green.

[BIGREDIOWAN]

Crown Vic's are definately dangerous for rear-end collisions, but the reality is your not going to get the police departments to go away from them unless Ford stops making them. I don't see that happening anytime soon. I've seen the story of that Officer on TV before and it's very sad.

[HUSKER 37]

Crown Vic's are definately dangerous for rear-end collisions, but the reality is your not going to get the police departments to go away from them unless Ford stops making them. I don't see that happening anytime soon. I've seen the story of that Officer on TV before and it's very sad.

 

 

Out here (and in Dallas?), the Police departments are supporting the charge to get out of the contract with Ford..

 

Probably mostly out of respect of the fallen officers.

[HUSKER 37]

Back on Topic.

 

bzoE5dlxH2s

[HuskerTrucker]

Back on Topic.

 

bzoE5dlxH2s

Luckily the state of Nevada has a website that you can check on availability before you get there...then it still has to go to state level to make sure it isn't offensive to anyone....my luck, the guy that does the approvals will be from Colorado...and be a Husker hater.

[TuffTiger]

How many can you have in NEB on a lisenced? 6 or can be 7?

 

GBR2BTerAR can mean some thing to this best internets, but maybe you"re best GBR will want to be more than that. You can know about that plus,also that can be more spots than NED can allow. I don"t know. Sorry,NEB, not NED. I put a er in so you can say TOUGHer AS RAIN since you"re team has many Nat. Champs. which can count for more.

 

Don"t do BO, a coach can go for a nect job for money an you"re stuck, but not bad as getting a BO as a tatoo. A caoch can be sort of same as a women..whoosh and gone, or maybe both decide. I say no tatoo.

 

Good luck and let"s know what you do so some can watch on a road for you"re hot car. If any one can see you thaey need to make a post.

 

Okay fined.

 

TuffTiger

Coloumbia,MU.

[cornhuskers4ever]

I think it's 7.

I believe you can have 7 total spots now. It used to be 8 spaces I believe, but now...

 

How about BLKSHRT

HUSKRZ

IM4NU

[jayhawk]

I vote

 

GoBigRd

 

G0B1gRd

 

B1g Red

 

Bi9 Red

[sCrUmptious!]

You need something that incorporates your shiny new coach and your school's preoccupation with the color red.

 

"BORED"

 

It's perfect.

[808Husker in KCMO]

It smells like bacon in here. Anyone else smell bacon?