what was going through this guys head?

They tried to stop him three times with stop sticks. Truck tires are #### tough, and most stop sticks are designed to stop passenger vehicles, not trucks.

I cannot imagine how/why this guy would do this. The only thing I can think of is that he might have been drinking, and knew he couldn't let the cops smell / test his breath. Then he started making stupid, drunk decisions and things went out of control from there.

 

Ever see a truck when a steer tire blows?
All over the road, and across the road. A lot of people could die as a result.

And as someone said, they are very sturdy. I doubt a 9mm from a handgun would penetrate the casing of a rolling tire. The angular momentum alone might deflect too much of the bullets energy.
But that would be an interesting spot on MythBusters, I would think.

 

Yup I have to agreee with the above post. The bullet went through the guys head

 

I think a 9mm round would easily put a hole in a truck tire. Watch the first video, a 9mm round penetrated 6-7 tread faces of a car tire. Its easily going to blow through a truck tire's sidewall.


This one gives a pretty good explaination as to why it probably would be futile to shoot a truck's tire.

 

Or on drugs.
Few years ago there was a driver running naked on top off his trailer at the side off the highway.

 

Truck tires have at least 4 steel plies and the three top premium manufacturers use 5 steel plies in the tread. They all only use 1 steel ply in the sidewall. Some use one Kevlar ply in addition to help strengthen for flex and combat heat. But it so thin it doesn’t really keep things from puncturing it. If you can puncture the tread with objects through 5 plies a sidewall isn’t bullet proof by a long shot. The instant burst of 120 psi of air through the rupture could be rather interesting.

 

I suspect it is also possible that the stop sticks actually worked and blew the tires, but he kept going on rims.

Very few of us would do that to our trucks, but if you are already shooting at cops, well, your rims likely aren't a big concern.

 

I don't think I can add much more to what has been stated. I agree that disabling via tires in a class 8 CMV is hazardous in most places. I am going to address the OPs question mostly.

what was going through this guys head?

What was going through this person's head? I can think back to many situations where somebody just "snapped". I have watched the daughter of a very close friend have a nervous collapse! I will not even venture an opinion on mental illness! I just know it is real and happens! It is also really sad because in a lot of situations "not all" these people do leave clues. Kind of reminds me of this quote spoken by Val Kilmer playing "Doc" Holiday "I'm afraid the strain was more than he could bear." as used in that quote it is kind of humorous, BUT it is true in situations like these!

 

There was a chase years back that I remember seeing on one of those worlds most annoying narrated police chase shows that had an 18 with no rubber on all wheels making sparks before it was over. I think it started with blown steers from stop sticks and went from there. He didnt stop for a good while.

 

I think I saw the same footage. Truck was loaded with lumber. Driver stole the truck, and drove it like a madman, spilling lumber all over and hitting several vehicles. It had quite a few tires blown by the end.

I believe it was eventually stopped by a patrol officer on foot who ran up to the truck while it was making a turn, and unloaded his pistol into the door.

That's what I was remembering when I made the comment about running on rims.