(This content was created with the help of AI.) Police chasing a fleeing car in Southern California now sometimes reach for something that the Los Angeles Times describes as “a secret weapon that is part grappling gun, part lasso.” Riverside County now boasts the first sheriff’s department in California to deploy the appropriately named Grappler, a $5,000 bumper-mounted device that shoots out a net designed to snag the rear tires or axle of a suspect’s vehicle and bring it to a rapid stop (see it in action here).
Lt. Jason Santistevan, who pushed for its adoption after seeing it at a K9 expo, says it’s already been used roughly 45 times, at speeds up to 106mph, and can prevent pursuits from escalating into deadly crashes.
The Grappler was invented by Leonard Stock, a construction worker with no police experience who came up with the concept after viewing a program about pursuits, per InvestigateTV…