You've seen it a thousand times in the movies. The hero leans out of a speeding Dodge Charger, takes a calm breath, and puts a single round into the front-left tire of the villain’s car. The tire pops, the car slows down to a manageable crawl, and everyone goes home safe. It looks clean. It looks tactical.
But it’s a total lie.
In the real world, if you ask a veteran patrol officer or a firearms instructor, why don't police shoot tires, they’ll probably give you a look that suggests you've watched way too many Michael Bay films. Shooting at a moving vehicle is a chaotic, high-stakes nightmare. It’s not a precision sport. It is a desperate measure that usually makes a bad situation much, much worse.
The Myth of the Controlled Stop
The biggest misconception is that a flat tire equals a stopped car. It doesn't. Not even close.
Modern tires are surprisingly resilient, and even when they lose air pressure, a car doesn't just freeze in place. If a suspect is motivated enough to flee a traffic stop, a flat tire isn't going to stop them from flooring the accelerator. They will drive on the rims. We see this in pursuit footage all the time—sparks flying, the smell of burning rubber filling the air, and the driver still hitting 60 miles per hour.
A car on its rims is actually more dangerous than a car with four good tires. Why? Because the driver loses almost all steering control.
When you shoot out a tire, you aren't "disabling" the vehicle in a controlled way; you are turning a multi-ton kinetic projectile into an unpredictable wrecking ball. That car could veer into oncoming traffic, plow into a bus stop, or flip over. Police departments are hyper-aware of liability. If an officer shoots a tire and that car subsequently veers into a sidewalk and kills a pedestrian, the department is on the hook for a massive lawsuit. The risk-to-reward ratio is just broken.
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Physics Doesn't Care About Your Aim
Let’s talk about the actual act of shooting.
Imagine you’re standing on a street corner. A car is screaming toward you at 50 mph. Your heart rate is 160 beats per minute. Your fine motor skills are basically gone because your body is flooded with adrenaline. Now, try to hit a spinning, bouncing rubber target that is roughly 10 inches wide.
You’ll miss.
Most people don't realize how small the "kill zone" on a tire actually is. If you hit the hubcap, the bullet could ricochet. If you hit the pavement, the bullet can skip—a phenomenon called "plowing"—and travel several blocks until it hits a house or a person. Handgun rounds, specifically the .40 S&W or 9mm loads used by most agencies, are notorious for unpredictable behavior when they hit hard, angled surfaces like asphalt or steel rims.
The FBI’s legendary firearms training doctrine emphasizes "stopping the threat." To stop a threat, you aim for the largest part of the target—center mass. Shooting at a tiny, moving tire goes against every ounce of training an officer receives. It’s low-probability shooting. In the line of duty, low-probability shots get innocent bystanders killed.
The "Deadly Force" Legal Trap
Here is the legal reality: a firearm is considered deadly force. Period.
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Under the landmark Supreme Court case Tennessee v. Garner (1985), police can only use deadly force when they have a reasonable belief that the suspect poses a significant threat of death or serious physical injury to the officer or others. There is no such thing as "non-lethal" use of a firearm in most departmental policies.
If an officer pulls their weapon, they are officially using deadly force.
If the situation is dangerous enough to warrant shooting, why would an officer aim for a tire? If the driver is trying to run people over, the "threat" is the driver, not the rubber on the wheels. By aiming for the tires, an officer is essentially saying, "I didn't think the situation was dangerous enough to shoot the person, but I shot my gun anyway."
That is a prosecutor's dream. It suggests the use of a firearm wasn't actually necessary. Defense attorneys will tear that apart in court. This is a primary reason why many departmental SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures), like those in the NYPD or Los Angeles South Park precincts, explicitly forbid shooting at or from moving vehicles except in the most extreme circumstances where someone is actively firing back.
Real-World Alternatives That Actually Work
Since shooting tires is a bad idea, what do cops actually do? They use tools designed for the job.
- Spike Strips (Stop Sticks): These aren't just nails. They use hollow needles that stay in the tire, allowing air to escape in a controlled manner. This slows the car down over a mile or two rather than causing a sudden blowout.
- The PIT Maneuver: Precision Immobilization Technique. A cruiser nudges the rear quarter panel of the suspect's car, causing it to spin out. It’s dangerous, but it’s a controlled physical intervention.
- StarChase: This is cool tech where a GPS projectile is fired from the grille of a police car. It sticks to the suspect's trunk. The cops can then back off, stop the high-speed chase, and just follow the dot on a map.
- Air Support: You can't outrun a helicopter.
The Ricochet Factor
We really need to hammer home the danger of the pavement.
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In a study by the National Institute of Justice, researchers looked at how bullets behave when they strike vehicles. Tires are backed by heavy steel rims and brake assemblies. If a 124-grain 9mm round hits that steel at an angle, it doesn't just disappear. It maintains a significant amount of its kinetic energy.
It can bounce upward into the cabin of the car, hitting the driver (which wasn't the intent), or it can fly off into a nearby shop window. Basically, the ground is a giant trampoline for lead.
Honestly, the risk of a "stray" bullet is the number one reason police are taught to keep their guns holstered during chases. Once that lead leaves the barrel, the officer is responsible for everywhere it goes. You can't call a bullet back.
Tactical Reality vs. Public Perception
People often ask, "Why not just shoot the engine block?"
Again, Hollywood has lied to you. A bullet from a handgun will not "explode" an engine. It might crack a radiator or a hose, but a car can drive for several minutes even after losing its coolant. By the time the engine seizes up, the suspect has already driven three miles and potentially crashed into a minivan.
The goal of any police intervention is to end the danger as quickly and safely as possible. Firing at tires is slow, ineffective, and wildly unpredictable. It turns a "pursuit" into a "shooting incident," which brings in internal affairs, massive amounts of paperwork, and potential criminal charges for the officer if a stray round hits a kid in a living room three blocks away.
Actionable Insights for Understanding Law Enforcement Tactics
If you're interested in the "why" behind police procedures, it's worth looking at the data rather than the drama.
- Review Departmental Policy: Most major city police departments publish their "Use of Force" manuals online. Look for the section on "Discharging Firearms at Moving Vehicles." You'll see that it's almost universally discouraged or banned.
- Study Ballistics: Research the "angle of incidence" regarding bullets hitting asphalt. It explains why aiming "low" is actually more dangerous for the public than aiming high.
- Watch Uncut Pursuit Footage: Look at "dashcam" archives on YouTube where spike strips are used. Notice how the car continues to drive for a significant distance even after the tires are shredded.
- Observe Training Simulators: If you ever have the chance to use a police MILO or FATS (Firearms Training System) simulator, try hitting a moving tire. It’s a humbling experience that proves how impossible the task is under pressure.
Ultimately, the reason police don't shoot tires comes down to a simple truth: life isn't a movie. In a movie, the script ensures the hero hits the mark. In the street, physics, law, and the chaotic nature of ballistics ensure that shooting a tire is usually a recipe for disaster.