Mait Team

MAIT Team
Season 2, Episode 15

Episode guide
Air date	13th January 1979
Written by	James Doherty, William D. Gordon, George Zateslo (Story by)
Directed by	John Florea
Previous	Next
Repo Man	Pressure Point

Briefing[]

When Cahill is involved in a collision involving numerous vehicles resulting in death. All evidence points to her. Jon and Ponch who are part of the Mait Team try to find out the cause before Cahill is blamed.

Report[]

Jon and Ponch are nearing the end of their shift. Ponch complains that the shift has been boring. Cahill is on the freeway when a blue truck begins to swerves into her lane, Cahill does her best to avoid the truck but is hit at the back of her patrol car and she rolls down a gully. The blue truck stops across the freeway and a car ploughs straight under it shearing off the roof as it slides under it. Another car mounts the car in front and slams into the cabin of the blue truck shunting it away from its load. Two more cars plough into each other causing them to explode.

An APB goes out advising of the collision, Jon responds to the call.

Cahill is seen fallen out of her patrol car with head wounds.

There's a massive tailback as Jon and Ponch arrive at the scene. Ponch checks the driver of the blue truck; he's covered in blood and unresponsive. The paramedics arrive on the scene. Jon and Ponch help the driver who struck the blue trucks cabin. The fire truck arrives to put out the fires. A hysterical woman is trying to get her husband from out of a blue car wedged under the blue container truck, the door is jammed. Jon manages to open the door and pull the driver free, the woman is hysterical because she believes he's having a heart attack.

Ponch runs to the car whose roof was sheared and it doesn't look good. A paramedic is now with Jon so Jon runs to the car Ponch is at. Ponch tells him there's someone else in the car and it won't be easy to remove them. Ponch tells a couple of paramedics he thinks the driver of the truck is still alive and didn't want to risk moving him.

Jon and Ponch return to the heart attack victim and ask the people with him what happened. A man tells him he didn't see it and came round the bend after it all happened. The woman was asleep in the back seat but when she woke up she heard a siren. Jon quizzes them on the siren. The man tells them he heard it as well. As they're trying to comprehend what's happened, a woman screams at them and points to something down the gully. Jon runs over to her with Ponch in tow, they look at where she was looking and spot the patrol car. Ponch screams for a medic and they tun towards the car.

Cahill is loaded into the ambulance and Getraer has arrived. Getraer tells them the truck driver's dead and the heart attack victim didn't make it. Ponch adds the death toll to 11 people. Getraer tells them the only witness who can help them is Cahill. Getraer goes to see Grossie who's controlling traffic and advises him to re-route the traffic. Grossie asks after Cahill and Getraer tells him she's unconcious but at least she's alive.

Back at Central, Getraer is talking to Margolis. He tells him that when there's one of his units involved or there's no one to tell them what happened then a MAIT investigation is automatic. Margolis questions the acronym. Getraer tells him it stands for, Multidisciplinary Accident and Investigation Team made up of specialists in the department. Just then Jon and Ponch enter the report room and Getraer introduces them as the physical evidence experts. Getraer asks them how Sindy is doing and Jon tells him she's still the same and asks why they're here. Getraer introduces them to Bill Margolis from Pacific Western Life, he's there to represent Barbara Daniels whose husband died of the heart attack. Jon apologises for losing him. Margolis is investigating eye witness reports that a siren was heard just before the crash and asks if Cahill was involved in a pursuit. Getraer tells him they don't know. Margolis tells them they must know, since she would have to call it in. Jon interjects by telling him she could only do that if she had time. Margolis isn't happy with the answer and becomes insistent he get a blame report as soon as possible. Ponch reminds him that they just came from the hospital, and that Cahill is their only living witness. Getraer tells him that they just dealt with 11 dead bodies and Cahill could have been the 12th. Ponch reminds him they're not the enemy. Margolis apologises. Getraer tells Jon and Ponch they're on the MAIT team and to meet in the morning.

Later at the hospital, Cahill is put back in her room. Jon and Ponch are watching over her. The Doctor ushers them out.

Getraer is at the impound garage on the phone speaking to the Senator, Bob Larwin. Cheng shows Getraer something in Sindy's patrol car. It's a half eaten pickle and some fries that she found all over. Getraer asks her to keep it to herself until they can speak to Sindy. Unfortunetly for Getraer, Margolis was listening and makes his presence known.

Jon visits the widow of the truck driver, Mrs Harris. She tells Jon there was nothing wrong with her husband prior to the accident and the autopsy confirms it. Jon understands but he wants to know if there were any underlying mental or emotional factors and whether he was under any stress like financial. Mrs Harris tells him there was nothing, he bought home every pay check and all the bills were paid, that he doesn't drink or play around. She grabs an award off the shelf to show Jon telling him it was for 11 years good driving with no minor accidents either. Jon tells her he knows and complements her husband's behavior. Jon thanks her and is about to leave when she tells Jon that if her husband had caused the accident he would say so and tells Jon if the girl (Sindy) did it then she hopes they'd would do the same.

Barbara Daniels is at Central recounting the days events to Ponch, Margolis is there also. She'd been driving before they stopped off for something to eat, because she was tired, her husband decided to drive instead. She slept on the back seat but was woken up by a siren and then her husband calling her name, when she sat up and looked out the window she screamed. Ponch thanks her for the information and tells her she can go home, Margolis tells him her brother is staying with her. Before Margolis leaves he turns to Ponch and tells him he's right that they're not the enemy.

Officer Borlov is speaking to a construction worker who was working on the day of the accident. Their site is directly above the collision. Borlov asks him if he heard a siren, the man recounts that he did but didn't look because he was in his van logging deliveries. When the crash happened he went to look but didn't see it happen. Borlov asks if he knows if there was anyone who might have seen what happened. He tells him he doesn't however he should speak to Fred Angello the foreman.

At the collision site, Jon is organising everyone. Ponch is taking measurements. Jon looks at where Sindy crashed and asks Officer Anderson to review the scenario, he starts taking photos. Getraer arrives in a patrol car with Margolis. Jon and Ponch are still making measurements. Ponch writes notes in his pocket book and notices something on the ground and bends to pick it up. Getraer notices this and goes over to him and asks him about it. Ponch tells him it's just a letter 'R'. Getraer tells him to follow all leads. Getraer asks if they've figured out what happened with Sindy, Margolis comes up behind Getraer. Jon goes through the scenario about what happened that day. He tells them that when she was hit by the truck she put her foot on the accelerator not the brake and ended up in the gully. Jon tells them that what he doesn't understand is how she ended up on the trucks side and the truck was on her side. Margolis asks if they were to swear under oath that she didn't cause the accident. Silence ensues and Margolis walks away. Getraer calls Margolis a nuisance. He then asks Jon and Ponch if they know who Senator Bob Larwin is. Jon nods slightly. He tells them that he's jumping on this accident and that he's trouble. He tells them that everyone heard a siren but there were no Code-3's reported in the area. They're going to check private ambulances but it will take time. He asks Jon if the heart attack victim could have caused it. Jon disagrees stating that he was coming from the East bound side and hit the truck when it had stopped, precipitated by a heart attack. Getraer asks if speed was a factor, Ponch tells him the fastest anyone was going was 45, everyone except Sindy was within the speed limit.

At the hospital, Ponch asks about Sindy. The Doctor tells them that she's doing much better and has periods of conciousness, but she's still unable to talk. The Doctor notices Ponch's small bunch of flowers and tells him he'll get someone to put them in water. He tells them they can see Sindy. When they enter the room it's filled with large bouquets of flowers eclipsed by Ponch's tiny bunch. Grossie is there and tells them her injuries. He notices Ponch's flowers and then proceeds to tell them where all the flowers came from. A nurse arrives with a large vase and takes the small bunch of flowers away from Ponch.

At the impound garage Getraer is talking to Margolis and Larwin that there were no defects with Cahill's car or the truck. Margolis wants to know why Cahill was running a code 3 on the wrong side of the road. Larwin gives Getraer a speech. Getraer introduces Larwin to everyone on the Mait Team. They are interrupted by a phone call. It's good news, the siren was from a private ambulance responding to a burn victim. Getraer tells Larwin and Margolis they have all the reports and photos of the accident. Margolis asks about the pickle and fries. Larwin asks if she could have been eating while she was driving. Getraer tells him the fries and pickle aren't relevant to his hot pursuit and when he does have the answer he'll give it to him.

Jon and Ponch visit the Department of Motor Vehicles to find out information on the letter they found. They've spoken to Ford who tell them the serial numbers on the letter tell them it belongs to a '67 half ton truck. The man there tells them that they want him to tell them which one and flicks his files. Ponch tells him they only made 46,000 of them and theirs is light blue. Jon tells him the trucks old and most of them are out of commission now. Jon tells him that there was no Ford involved in the wreckage and if it is involved then it might be a felony hit and run. Jon tells him 11 people died and the man is taken aback. He tells Jon he'll have something by tomorrow.

The MAIT Team is now going through test runs of the collision. They first test the truck and take measurements after Jon brings it to a stop. Getraer arrives with news of the letter they found. They've whittled it down to 11 and two of them are within 2 miles. Getraer will check on one and asks they join him when they've finished up. He hands them both a list of owners and rides off.

Ponch gets in a patrol car to mimic Sindy's course that day, the scene is interchanged with what happened with Sindy on the day. They agree that Sindy put her foot on the gas to avoid the truck. Larwin asks why Sindy was driving on the wrong side of the road which they still don't have the answers to.

Getraer arrives at the house where one of the owners of the '67 truck lives. A woman holding a baby answers the door. He introduces himself to her and asks if Kenneth Thomas is there. She tells him he's not anymore. He tells her he may be able to give information on a traffic accident, at the moment a light blue '67 truck pulls up before pulling out when he sees Getraer's bike. Getraer chases after him and radio's it in. After a while he radios Baricza, Jon and Ponch, advising them that the '67 half ton is on its way to them. Baricza who has been controlling traffic away from the Mait Team gets into his patrol car and spots the half ton truck pass him, Getraer comes up behind but falls off his bike. Jon and Ponch ride past the half ton truck and turn around to follow it. Baricza gets out of his patrol car to help Getraer get his bike upright and then continue their pursuit of the half ton truck.

The rest of the MAIT Team move out the way of the chase, Anderson looks at Larwin and asks if he still thinks they should slow down.

After a while the half ton comes to a stop, Thomas exits the truck with his hands in the air. Ponch cuffs him. Thomas is babbling away that he's sorry. Ponch tells him to tell it doesn't mean much to a corpse. Thomas tells them he never hurt anyone and thinks they're there for all the parking tickets. Getraer looks on clearly irate. Thomas tells them that he's got warrants on him, but he's got a baby now, and if he loses his licence he loses his job or loses his house and again asks if it's because of the parking tickets.

Back at Central Thomas is holding the loose letter in his hand. Borlov is looking at him. Thomas tells him it's just a letter that fell off his truck and that letters do fall off. Borlov asks if he knew about the accident. At first Thomas tells him he didn't but then tells him he did when he read the papers. Borlov asks the reason why he stopped where he did that day. Thomas tells him his truck broke down and it was the previous day to the day they're talking about.

The Doctor is restricting access to Sindy while she recouperates and won't allow Larwin or Getraer to see her. Larwin questions why Jon and Ponch are allowed. The Doctor tells them they're not authority figures and she's weak and doesn't want undue pressure on her.

Inside, Cahill is talking to Jon and Ponch, she asks them what happened. Jon tells her to try to remember for herself. He asks her if she clocked out to eat. Sindy tells them she ordered a burger, fries and a pickle and because she never left the car she didn't log out. Ponch says to her that she then responded to a call and took her burger with her. She tells them she ate it and asks why. Jon tells them they found the fries and half eaten pickle. Sindy tells them she didn't even eat the pickle. Jon promises to buy her a new one. Sindy wants just one answer, whether she was to blame for the incident, Jon tells her they're not looking for blame, they're looking for cause. Sindy asks if there were any witnesses, Jon tells her there are none that were helpful. Sindy believes she's in trouble. Jon tells her as soon as they find out anything they'll tell her and if she remembers anything to call them. Ponch tells her to think of something pleasant like when he performed mouth to mouth on her. Sindy asks if he really did, and he tells her he wants to show her. Sindy tells him she prefers to remember the first time to see whether or not she liked it. Ponch asks if they can get her anything, she asks for her pickle.

Jon and Ponch go to Getraer and Larwin waiting outside. Jon tells them she doesn't remember anything. Larwin doesn't believe it. Getraer tells Larwin they wouldn't tell him Sindy was awake if they were going to lie to him.

Back at the impound garage, Anderson is going over the events that lead to the collision.

Anderson gives numbers and names to the vehicles involved.

Moving West bound tried to avoid the truck hit 5 head on.
Followed Car 3, hit it, and the truck
Hit the truck after car 2 hit it
Skidded under the truck
Moving East bound tried to avoid the truck hit 1 head on.

Cahill's car
The Truck

Getraer asks if there were any witnesses. Borlov tells him there was a contruction site and a guy in a van stepped out to see car 1 and 5 hit each other, he didn't witness Cahill crash. Larwin tells them that the skid marks suggest that Cahill was on the wrong side of the road and before she could correct it she hit the truck. Jon and Ponch go over to Getraer and tell him there's only one way to find out what happened, to re-enact the crash. Getraer tells him it will cost money, Ponch tells him to take it out of his salary. Getraer tells him he'll see what he can do.

The approval has been given and everyone is on hand to re-enact the collision.

Baricza
Fritz
Anderson
Borlov
Grossie

Ponch
Jon

Getraer, Larwin and Margolis park above where the construction site is so they have an aerial view of everything. Ponch is driving the patrol car, and Jon is driving the truck. They first try driving the truck in the same lane as his. Nothing happens that they expected to. Grossie waiting in car 5 asks if he's going to do anything. Larwin asks what that proved, Getraer tells him. Jon asks everyone if they noticed anything, they didn't. Ponch suggests doing what Sindy did only faster. Grossie asks if they need him, Getraer tells him to sit tight.

Jon drives towards Ponch and swerves into lanes, causing the crash to happen just as it did when it happened. They confirm Sindy put her foot on the gas to stop hitting anyone else. Larwin is satisfied at the finding, however Margolis isn't. They haven't proved who was on the wrong lane first or why it happened. Larwin asks Getraer to take him down. When Larwin opens the door to the patrol car it reflects the sun off the door and into Jon and Ponch's eyes below. Ponch asks Getraer if anything was being delivered up there at the time of the accident. Getraer asks the guy there what was being delivered that day. He tells them that's why he didn't see the accident as he was overseeing the delivery of roofing paper and fireplace mirrors. Ponch asks them to get one up there by 5 o'clock. The construction guy gives a nod that it's possible.

The mirror arrives and Jon goes through the plan with everyone, he tells them the accident occurred at 5:17 so they have to get into place before then. Grossie looks at his watch and tries to talk to Jon, but Jon keeps interrupting him and tells him they don't need car 5. Grossie tells them he knows that but the sun will go down 6 minutes earlier than when the accident originally happened. Jon radios everyone they have to be ready before 5:11 and they all move out. They start the re-enactment. Getraer signals the construction guy and the mirror is driven onto site. When the sun hits the mirror it sends a shaft of light into Jon's cabin blinding him. The scene is intermingled with the real crash. Jon is struggling to see and veers onto the wrong lane. Getraer turns to Margolis who now believes him. Getraer calls car 5 and tells Grossie he has some passengers to take back. Grossie gets a flat tire.

Jon and Ponch arrive at the hospital, they see Larwin exit Cahill's room with Getraer. Larwin reassures them that he just wanted to meet her before he left. Getraer tells them that he still opposes hot pursuit. Jon agrees with him since it harms and disables a lot of them. Ponch tells him if he can get the speeders, reckless drivers and criminals to cooperate then they'll slow down.

Before they enter Cahill's room, Jon asks if they have everything. He's got the tape, Ponch has the card and machine. They present the gifts to Sindy who can't thank them enough for everything they did. They put the tape in the machine and it doesn't work. Ponch forgot the batteries.

Notes[]

This episode marks the record number of deaths in one episode, it's also the only episode where more deaths occur in any other season/episode of CHiPs.
Stock footage of Engine 51 and Squad 51 from the show Emergency! was used.
Ponch didn't move the truck driver due to his injuries, but had no problems pulling other people out of their vehicles along with Jon that were in vehicle on fire, or next to vehicles that were on fire. In Peaks and Valleys, Jon and Ponch were sued when they were accused of moving a driver from his vehicle with spine injuries. In this episode Ponch didn't remove the truck driver due to him possibly already being deceased. Jon pulled the heart attack victim from his car and he died, however he didn't die as a result if his injuries from the crash. Therefore they weren't culpable for either death. However saying that, everyone bar Mrs Daniels and Cahill died. So no matter what Jon and Ponch did out of 13 people only two people survived, and the department still got sued.
MAIT stands for Multidisciplinary Accident Investigation Teams. The title is redundant since Team is already in MAIT. MAIT is an actual unit within CHP.
When Jon goes to help the heart attack victim he enters from the right side of the screen, since Jon is helping Ponch with the car that hit the truck cabin, and the blue car is behind the green one, he should be seen coming from the left side of the screen, instead he comes from the right of the screen and the green car can be seen next to the blue one on the left side.
We only visually see 9 bodies covered up at the accident. It could be that the truck driver was left in the cabin and covered up and the heart attack victim was taken away.
When Getraer is walking towards Grossie after the accident, we can see the land in the background is flat. There should be an elevation where the construction work was taking place.
When Jon is going over the collision with Getraer and they mention the heart attack victim. We see a flashback of the accident where the green car slams into the cabin of the truck, and the blue car behind. However instead of the blue car hitting the truck as Jon states, you can see the blue car pull up behind the green one.
During the flashback at the MAIT meeting, you the Cahill's CHP car on the street is not the same one that is going over the embankment. A different vehicle with a different lighter was used for the crash.
When the green car hits the cabin in a later flashback being explained by Anderson, it shows there were two people in the back seats, when the accident happened you could only see 2 people in the front seat of the car.
When at the Department of Motor Vehicles researching the "R" found, it is said that there were no Fords involved in the collision. The semi truck was a blue Ford and the heart attack victim was in a blue Ford Pinto.
When Jon and Ponch go to see Cahill for the final time, she's holding a flower from Ponch's bouquet.

Codes used[]

11-80 - Traffic Collision - Major Injury
10-4 - OK / Acknowledgment
11-83 - Traffic Collision - Unknown Injury

Quotes[]

Getraer(Ponch): Troops, this is eh, State Senator Bob Larwin. Anderson, graphics, maps, photography. Welsh, Cal-Trans technician. Cheng, chemistry, and Borlov interrogations. (Ve have vays of making people talk.) Baker and Poncherello, comedy and physical evidence.

Cast[]

Main Cast[]

Larry Wilcox: Jon Baker
Erik Estrada: Frank Poncherello
Robert Pine: Joe Getraer

Recurring[]

Brianne Leary: Sindy
Brodie Greer: Baricza
Paul Linke: Grossman
Lew Saunders: Fritz

Guest Stars[]

Eric Braeden: Senator (Bob) Larwin
Michael Bell: (Bill) Margolis
Carmen Argenziano: Borlov

Others[]

Michael Christian: Ken Thomas
Dan Ferrone: Anderson
Robert Lone: Welsh
Scott Mulhern: Doctor
Russell Shannon: Citizen #1
Lorraine Barkley: Citizen #2
Wonderful Smith: DMV Supervisor
Peg Stewart: Mrs Harris
Lee Terri: Barbara Daniels
Wade Wallace: Construction Worker
Ingrid Wang: Cheng