Police dash cam of Norman,OK tornado

[Mike Bennett]

http://kfor.com/2012/04/26/norman-pd-just-released-dash-cam-video-of-tornado/

This was just released by the Norman Police Dept. It is an officers dash cam of the rain wrapped tornado of April 13, 2012. I'm not sure of the officers name.

 

[Kirk Chestnut]

Looks like his name was Sgt. Robert Scott. Amazing that he sounded cool under fire.

 

[rdale]

Classic that it starts with the useless call to get out of a car and get into the ditch... Sigh...

 

[Stephen Levine]

Thank you for the link.. really reminds me of eyewall hurricane videos..Pretty awesome.

 

[Stan Rose]

Classic that it starts with the useless call to get out of a car and get into the ditch... Sigh...

Given the choice between this car and the ditch, I'd chose the ditch!
http://www.spc.noaa.gov/faq/tornado/tor_faq/car.jpg

 

[Jake Orosi]

Remember: in a parking lot, trees always have right-of-way.

 

[James Hilger]

He should drive the TIV. Seemed like like he was trying to intercept it.

 

[rdale]

Given the choice between this car and the ditch, I'd chose the ditch!

Well first off if it did that much damage to your car as you lay on the ground 5 feet away, you aren't in good shape either...

Plus as I suspected, Norman streets aren't lined with too many ditches.

 

[Andrea Griffa]

Wow, it seems like a chasing video more than a police video Anyway, pretty impressive!

 

[Jake Orosi]

He should drive the TIV. Seemed like like he was trying to intercept it.

Wow, it seems like a chasing video more than a police video Anyway, pretty impressive!

Now that you mention it, it does seem like he was making an effort to get to the thing.

On open county roads maybe; but that guy's braver than I am, driving that fast on city streets in rain like that...!

 

[Stan Rose]

Norman streets aren't lined with too many ditches.

You are sooo wrong, Rob....

 

[Marcus Diaz]

I think he was just trying to get to the station before the tornado hit. Maybe find some better shelter. But with the tornado being rain-wrapped there was no way he could visually see where it was at. And right when he got to the station the tornado passed over. I think he's pretty lucky the tornado wasn't too strong.

Here's video from the station. You can see the officer pull in at 0:35 and be chased by that tree.

Watch video >