Wheeling

Wheeling
Episode #	314
Air Date	December 8, 1979
Briefing	?

Title screen

Brief Plot

A trio of wheelchair-bound drivers create problems for Jon and Ponch both in and out of their vehicles. The father of a hit-and-run victim is determined to catch the driver responsible, with or without the help of the CHP.

Plot

An incident-free morning on the freeway

Helen is left holding her son, Kip, after the accident

While Ponch and Jon are patrolling the heavy traffic on the beautiful Harbor Freeway where there hasn’t been car accident all morning, and they keep making bets against each other about the week. Meanwhile a paralyzed Vietnam veteran named Artie while driving a beat up looking yellow and gray primer Chevrolet Chevy Van, and will soon decide to start playing his favorite game which is actually called freeway tag by tapping the bumper of his buddy Alan’s beautiful maroon Cadillac Coupe DeVille. Since Alan happens to be in a very bad mood after getting his bumper tapped by Artie during start of their favorite game, and decides to let buddy pass him by immediately in the left hand lane of the freeway. Alan will eventually join in by tapping the bumper of their buddy Don’s beautiful red Dodge Charger which happens to be a Special Edition. Don is now upset with the situation of the game, and will let Alan passed him by immediately in the right lane of the freeway. Once Artie’s favorite game has just begun, and he will be follow by Alan until Don decides to finally join in for some revenge. While the trio happens to be weaving around the traffic on the freeway, and will eventually themselves pursed for a few miles by Ponch and Jon. The trio will eventually exited the freeway, and get themselves pulled over on a side street by Ponch and Jon. Ponch now finds out that both Alan and Don are handicapped when it comes to stepping out of their vehicles, and will end up giving them citations as result of Artie’s stupid freeway tag game. Jon is actually surprised to find out that Artie is also handicapped besides his friends, and will end up giving him a citation as a result for his stupid freeway tag game. After Ponch and Jon finished giving the trio a set of citations, and will going back to duty of patrolling the freeway. Meanwhile an elderly old man named Harry Saunders happens to be a game of football with his son, Kip, and will eventually lead to a discussion with his wife, Helen, about getting some sleep from his night job. While Kip has just started his morning job of delivering newspapers on his green Schwinn Speedster, and Harry happens to notice that a blue Ford Mustang Grande and a red Chevrolet Camaro SS will be using their street as a drag strip. Since Kip accidentally gets himself run over by a blue mustang, and which leaves Harry and Helen upset about the whole situation. Kip now has a broken leg because of the drag racers, and Harry is always determine about taking law into his own hands by getting into his beat up looking green Pontiac Firebird. Since Harry wants to track down the drag racers himself without any help from the police today, and will leave Kip and Helen at the accident scene.

Harry speeding through traffic trying to catch the criminal himself

Ponch and Jon give Artie another citation for endangerment of pedestrian

While Harry is actually weaving around traffic trying to catch the blue mustang that is now turning onto the entrance ramp of the Harbor Freeway, and is determine to track down the criminal who had accidentally ran over his son Kip by angrily cutting off some cars during incoming traffic in order turn onto the same entrance ramp. Harry is now entering the freeway by angrily cutting off a white Plymouth Belvedere, and happens to speeding while weaving through incoming traffic in which he will be followed by Ponch and Jon trying to get him to pull over on the side of the freeway. When Harry does finally decide to pull over on the side of the freeway, and he will get even angrier at Jon about the situation with blue mustang driver who the accidentally ran over Kip today. Jon now decides to call in a speeding blue mustang using his CB radio, and will get a response from Bonnie while driving around in her cruiser who happens to be requesting the license plate number. When Jon is actually unable to give Bonnie the license plate number on that blue Mustang, and now decides to lecture Harry about calling the police rather than the take law into his own hands. While Baricza happens to be driving around in his cruiser looking at incoming traffic, and Ponch is actually unable to find that blue mustang. Harry now gets even more angrier at Jon, and wants to track down the driver by getting back into his own green Firebird. Meanwhile Alan and Don have just pulled into the Sawtelle Rehabilitation Center parking lot in order meet with Alan, and will go inside the building to visit their buddy Brent who happens to rolling up a magazine in front of table with a chess board. When Don decides to invite Brent to have lunch at Chili Daddies on Olvera Street, and Alan really wants to go see the new space movie. Which Brent turns down both offers, and Artie wants to make him face reality outside the hospital. While Don happens to find a blanket, and wants to have fun by playing a Mexican bull fighting game which is actually called Toro with Artie and Alan by waving them through the fun game. Since Ponch and Jon happen to riding on North Alameda Street, and will eventually run into Artie once again when he accidentally lift a blonde haired teenage girl off her skateboard. When Alan and Don happen to wheel themselves down the hill safety without an incident. After Ponch and Jon finished take a statement from the teenage, and will give Artie another citation for endangerment of pedestrian. Ponch and Jon will give the trio a lecture about how being disabled which doesn’t allow them any special privileges.

Ponch and Jon are on their way to the Sawtelle Rehabilitation Center

Ponch arrests Delgado

Since Ponch and Jon had decided to pay a visit the Sawtelle Rehabilitation Center, and will receive some information about Artie who happens to be a respectful patient here from Dr. McCleary. While Ponch and Jon happen to enjoying their tour that is given by Dr. McCleary, and get to see all the amenities the hospital to offer for the patients with special needs. Ponch and Jon will receive some information on Artie’s friend Brent who was once a promising athlete until his recent surfing accident, and will meet up with the trio once again coming back into the building in order to visit him today. When Ponch and Jon decide leave the hospital, and will eventually catch Artie letting the air out of another persons tires for parking in his special handicapped parking spot. While Ponch threatens to give Artie another citation for tampering with motor vehicle, and Jon happens to recognize a posted handicapped sign on the parking spot. When Ponch and Jon try to make friends with Artie while watching him use a wheelchair lift in order to leave the hospital. Meanwhile Harry and Kip are waiting for Helen to finished grocery shopping at the Mayfair Market, and he happens to get upset about losing a football scholarship. When Harry happens to spot a certain blue mustang pulling into a parking lot, and gets angry after seeing an innocent man named Delgado who he thinks is actually a criminal buying just a newspaper. Harry now decides to take the law back into his own hands by picking up Helen in front of the supermarket, and will keep harassing Delgado for a few miles causing other vehicles to swerve in order to avoid being in a collision. Harry is now being followed by Grossie who happens to be calling in a Code-3 using his CB Radio, and will eventually get Ponch and Jon to respond for backup. Harry finally decides to pull over along with Delgado, and will get into an argument with Grossie along with Ponch and Jon while trying to make a citizens arrest. When Harry finally shows Jon a scrap mark on the certain blue Mustang, and Delgado will actually give his license to the police. Jon tries to tell Harry how many blue mustangs there are in the city of Los Angeles, and Ponch finally reads Delgado his Miranda rights in order to get the complaint form filled out by today. When Harry is finally happy with Ponch for arresting Delgado, and he will finally sign Jon’s complaint form.

The trio building a special looking wheelchair inside Artie's garage.

Ponch and Jon deliver the bad news to Harry about the Mustang that belongs to Jerry Parker.

Meanwhile inside Artie’s garage where the trio happens to be building a customize wheelchair as a gift for their buddy Brent, and will eventually get a visited from Ponch and Jon for the fifth time in a row today. When Ponch and Jon try to peace with the trio, and happen to find out some information about them inside the hospital. Artie now decides to apologize to Ponch and Jon for his dangerous actions earlier today. While Ponch and Jon happen to be admiring the trio’s work on Brent’s brand new customize wheelchair until Getraer decides to stop by with some information on a blue Mustang that belongs to a traffic criminal named Jerry Parker who happens to be driving with a suspended license because of numerous traffic violations, and will have some bad news to the whereabouts of their criminal. Getraer will eventually meet the trio through Ponch and Jon, and they will leave together. The trio now decides to give each other high fives after watching Ponch and Jon along with Getraer leave Artie’s house. Meanwhile Harry and Kip are getting ready to repair the wreck bicycle tire inside their garage at home, and they seem to be having a discussion about making junior varsity this year. While back at Central where Ponch and Jon along with Grossie are finishing the paperwork, and will have discussion about dream journals until Getraer comes into the room to deliver the message from Harry who happens to be waiting at the front desk for a report on the blue mustang that had accidentally caused Kip‘s bicycle accident. When Ponch and Jon have to leave the room, and will eventually receive some bad news from Grossie about Delgado already getting himself an attorney named Mr. Stevens in order to sue them in court over a false arrest. While Ponch and Jon deliver the bad news to Harry about Delgado getting himself a Mr. Stevens as his attorney in order to sue them in court over a false arrest, and they will happen to suggest dropping the charges in order to settle out of court. When Getraer comes to front desk, and message to Ponch and Jon from their friend Artie about the whereabouts of Jerry on line two of the telephone. When Ponch accepts the telephone call from Artie about a certain blue Mustang that belongs to Jerry in a parking lot, and while Alan and Don had just finished pulling out the plug wires in order to close the hood. After Ponch and Jon have finished receiving a tip about Jerry’s location from Artie, and will soon leave Harry waiting at the front desk.

The trio playing Frisbee while waiting for Jerry to arrive back in the parking lot

Meanwhile the trio are enjoying a game of Frisbee until Jerry arrives back into parking lot in order to get inside his blue Mustang, and can get it to turn over but it won’t start because the plug wires were just pull out. While the trio are keeping a lookout for Ponch and Jon, and Jerry will easily give up on trying to start his blue Mustang. When Jerry gets back out of his blue Mustang in order to open up the hood, and happens to find out that his plug wire were recently stolen by the trio. Jerry now starts accusing the trio of stealing his plug wires, and happens to be unaware about being setup with an anonymous phone from Artie. Jerry is now aware about Ponch and Jon arriving while requesting backup, and he will try to run across the city streets for a few miles until accidentally knocking over an innocent man in order to go inside Los Angeles Union Station hoping to hide from the police. Ponch now has go inside the Los Angeles Union Station, and while Jon covers the outside until going inside the back of the building. While Ponch and Jon are now inside Los Angeles Union Station, and will eventually find Jerry hiding inside a photo booth in order to arrest him on numerous traffic violations. After Ponch and Jon had finished arresting Jerry inside Los Angeles Union Station, and Bonnie now places him inside the front of her cruiser by buckling his seatbelt while outside the building. While Ponch and Jon along with Bonnie now find out how the trio had originally pulled the plug wires out of Jerry’s blue mustang, and will received a thank you for their slick operation. When the trio finally decides to become friends with Bonnie after meeting her through Ponch and Jon because they happen to know that she actually likes them by looking at her beautiful smile while laughing about their situation with Jerry today. Don now thinks that Bonnie actually has a crush on him by wanting to become his girlfriend rather than just friends. Meanwhile back at central where Jon is now having a meeting inside the report room with Delgado, and Mr. Stevens about his court case over false arrest which includes pictures of his blue mustang. Jon will actually remind both Delgado, and Mr. Stevens about Harry’s song Kip who had accidentally got ran over by Jerry while driving the same blue mustang. Both Ponch and Harry now come into the briefing room to deliver the good news from Bonnie about getting Jerry to make a full confession while booking him downtown, and will prove Delgado’s innocence about his blue Mustang being parked at the airport during time Kip was accidentally ran over by another one drag racing on the street. Harry will eventually agree to drop the charges against Delgado, and will apologize for his actions earlier this week. Delgado is now angry with Harry for having him accidentally arrested earlier this week, and will eventually apologize to Harry for Kip’s accident that was caused by Jerry while drag racing on the street. Jon will recommend that Harry settle out of court with Delgado, and Mr. Stevens by agreeing to pay the attorney fees. Both Harry and Delgado along with Mr. Stevens will eventually agree to settle out of court, and leave Ponch and Jon thinking about Jerry‘s future during the next several months inside prison.

Baricza ducking under the wires.

Meanwhile back at the Sawtelle Rehabilitation Center, Ponch and Jon help the trio surprise their buddy Brent with a customize wheelchair. The new chair helps to finally persuade Brent to venture ouside and into Artie’s van. He's joined by Artie, Don and Alan, and the quartet head out together. While the quartet are enjoying the drive in Artie’s van, Artie is challenged to a drag race by another driver. After stopping at the first set of lights, they continue the race down a suburban street where Harry is just about to help his son into his car. After they race by, Harry sets off in pursuit, and continues to follow Artie’s van when the other driver turns off. As Harry catches up, he begins to sideswipe Artie’s van in an attempt to make him pull over. This gets the attention of Baricza, who joins the chase along with Ponch and Jon. The chase eventually ends in a small construction site where both vehicles wind up flipping over.

The group laughing together back in the hospital.

Baricza manages to free the passenger from the van through the rear doors while Ponch and Jon rescue Harry just as the paramedics arrive. They are soon followed by Harry's wide and son. As they discuss the possibility that Harry has broken his leg, his son promises to try harder to make the junior varsity. Harry replies that that there’s more to life than pleasing him. Meanwhile, the paramedics have Artie on a stretcher and say that he's broken both of his arms. Artie tells Ponch that he knows that he overcompensated trying to prove something.

A couple of days later, Ponch and Jon are back at the Sawtelle Rehabilitation Center, and get to see their friend Dr. McCleary along with the rest of the group. This time, it’s Brent’s turn to persuade Artie to come out. He appears in a wheelchair with both arms fully in plaster. He's being pushed by Harry who’s been ordered to by a judge as part of his punishment. Just as they're all having a laugh about the situation, they have to make way for a guy speeding through in a wheelchair, which nearly sets Artie off again.

Guest Stars

• Taylor Lacher as Harry Saunders
• Ray Vitte as Don
• Paul Gale as Artie
• Ron Lombard as Alan
• David Gilliam as Brent
• Fil Formicola as Delgado
• Paul Linke as Grossman
• Brodie Greer as Baricza

Co-Starring

• Ned Wilson as Dr. McCleary
• Tim Maier as Kip Saunders
• Cissy Wellman as Helen Saunders
• Michael Mancini as Jerry Parker
• Gary Pagett as Man
• Milt Oberman as Attorney Stevens
• Ken Lesco as Sedan Driver
• Teri Landrum as Co-ed
• Randi Oakes as Bonnie Clark

Crew

• Produced by: Cy Chermak
• Written by: L. Ford Neale and John Huff
• Directed by: Barry Crane
• Executive Consultant: Rick Rosner
• Story Editors: William D. Gordon & James Doherty
• Associate Producer: Paul Rabwin
• Developed for television by: Paul Playdon
• Music by: Alan Silvestri
• Theme by: John Parker
• Music Supervisor: Harry V. Lojewski
• Director of Photography: Robert F. Sparks
• Art Director: Les Gobruegge
• Editor: Peter E. Berger
• Unit Production Manager: Ron Grow
• Assistant Director: Lindsley Parsons III
• 2nd Assistant Director: John Peter Kousakis
• Script Supervisor: Jack Gannon
• Set Decorator: W. Joseph Kroesser
• Production Consultant: Dave McDannel
• Technical Advisor: Bill Kuethen
• Stunt Co-ordinator: Paul Nuckles
• Rerecorded at: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios
• Sound: Harlan Riggs, M. Curtis Price, C.A.S.
• Wardrobe Supervisor: Shelly Levine
• Makeup: Richard Cobos, S.M.A, Walter Schenck
• Hairdresser: Don Lynch
• Casting: Michael O. Hanks
• Locations by: Cinemobile Systems
• With Appreciation to Glen B. Craig, Commissioner California Highway Patrol
• Motorcycles Furnished by: Kawasaki Motors Corp., U.S.A.
• Automobiles furnished by: Ford Motor Company
• We gratefully acknowledge the cooperation and assistance furnished by the California Paralyzed Veterans Association
• Filmed in METROCOLOR / Titles and Opticals MGM
• Rosner Television in association with MGM Television

Fun Facts

The Old Plaza Firehouse

Helen and Kip arrive at the scene of the accident

• The mock bull fighting scene was filmed around on and around Olvera Street. Artie's wheelchair comes to rest on North Alameda Street. View in Google Maps
• As Jon and Ponch approach the runaway wheelchair they pass the Old Plaza Firehouse. Built in 1884, it was the first building to be constructed by the City of Los Angeles for housing fire fighting equipment and personnel. The building is now a historical monument, and is located on 575 N Main St

Los Angeles, California.

• Jon and Ponch catch the hit-and-run driver in Union Station. View in Google Maps
• The crash scene near the end was filmed just off of Hannum Street in Culver City. All the buildings in the background have now gone, and the large Volkswagen warehouse is now an estate of townhouses. View in Google Maps
• Ray Vitte was a close friend of Donna Summer. He died after an altercation with the LAPD in 1983. Summer was part of a news conference which questioned the circumstances of his death.
• Michael Dorn who plays Turner doesn't appear in this episode.
• Sawtelle Rehabilitation Center is actually location on 979 Veteran Avenue, Los Angeles, California, and is still being run by Veteran's hospital but has changed it's name to Weyburn Terrace Palm Coast Rehabilitation Center.

Mistakes

• During the final chase, Harry and Artie are banging fenders along Overland Avenue where it becomes Playa Street. They make a left turn off of Playa Street which catches Baricza's attention, yet seconds later they're back on Overland Avenue approaching Playa Street.

Preceded by: "Second Chance"

Wheeling 314

Followed by: "Christmas Watch"