The wild, 20-mile police chase of a suspected bank robber during Friday's rush hour provided a dramatic, transfixing videotape shot by a television news helicopter, but it also illustrated the difficult balancing act police officers must perform daily in their jobs.

Shoot or don't shoot?

Is it too dangerous to pursue a fleeing suspect or is it too dangerous not to do so?

What's the appropriate amount of force to use with a combatant suspect, especially one who may be armed?

City and suburban police officers had to wrestle with those questions and make split-second decisions during the chase and capture, which ended remarkably without any serious injuries to officers, the suspects and the public.

How officers fared will be determined by a number of internal reviews, which will be greatly aided by the videotape shot by WTAE-TV, which broadcast portions of the chase and its conclusion live.

Lt. Dan Herrmann of Pittsburgh Police Major Crimes, a former veteran robbery detective, said no bank robbery in his memory had ever had such a dramatic and dangerous chase in its aftermath.

"There might have been some cases where there was a small pursuit, a couple of blocks and then you get the guy, but nothing like this," he said.

At one point during the chase, when rush-hour traffic on Route 28 slowed the suspect's vehicle to a stop, four officers on foot with guns drawn attempted to get the driver and passenger out. The driver plowed ahead, driving straight at an officer who had to jump out of the way.

Echoing comments made Friday by Pittsburgh Police Chief Nate Harper, Lt. Herrmann said the officers -- it's unclear which department they were from -- exhibited split-second restraint in not firing.

"He was using the vehicle as a weapon. They could have taken a shot, they could have fired to stop the threat ... but they didn't do so. They would have been justified to take a shot there."

The Pittsburgh police internal investigation will include a probe by Accident Investigation detectives, whose findings will be turned over to a Collision Review Board headed by Assistant Chief Regina McDonald. Detectives will look at the ways in which several police units sustained minor damage and how major damage was incurred by the police car driven by Lt. Timothy O'Connor.

Lt. O'Connor's cruiser flipped over onto the berm of Route 28 when the suspect's SUV rammed him as Lt. O'Connor tried to cut him off. The police car fell back onto its four tires, Lt. O'Connor radioed dispatchers about his condition and continued in the chase.

"He said something like 'This is 3380. I want to let you know I'm alive and well,' " said Lt. Herrmann.

Lt. O'Connor had crucial involvement in the chase because he was the supervisor who had the responsibility to determine how fast the police could chase the suspect or whether they should call it off. Often, supervisors make those decisions in their stations based on information radioed to them, but in this case Lt. O'Connor was in the middle of the action.

Under Pittsburgh police procedures, supervisors in control of pursuits must make the determination whether to pursue, weighing factors such as the criminal charges involved, the suspect's speed, the volume of traffic, location, weather conditions and road conditions.

Under the procedure, which is five pages long, pursuits must be terminated "when in the opinion of the supervisor the level of danger created by the pursuit outweighs the necessity of immediate apprehension."

Lt. Herrmann said factors indicated this was a pursuit that had to continue toward apprehension.

"I can't put words in [Lt. O'Connor's] mouth but this was a bank robber who is fleeing and possibly armed who was driving dangerously on Route 28. It became really serious when he tried to hit an officer and then struck Lt. O'Connor's car that flipped.

"If he did that to police officers, what is he going to do to civilians up the road? That guy was out of control. Now the pressure's on. In my opinion, we needed to stop this guy now. There was a necessity to stop this guy."

Additionally, Lt. Herrmann said, Lt. O'Connor "has probably terminated more pursuits than anybody. I've heard him over the radio call off a number of pursuits in the past. He listens, he knows what's dangerous and what's not."

In addition to the danger posed by a fleeing felon believed to be armed, factors mitigating the need for terminating the pursuit included the fact the suspect's speed was at times slowed to a crawl because of rush-hour traffic: Motorists responded to the police lights and sirens by moving out of the way, and the suspect was primarily traveling on limited access roads with few intersections with traffic lights.

Once the suspect's vehicle was stopped on the 31st Street Bridge, officers ordered the driver, John McCleavy, 36, of Pittsburgh's Ridgemont neighborhood, and the passenger, Meghan Jaeger, 21, of Boardman, Ohio, out of the SUV. Ms. Jaeger complied but Mr. McCleavy remained defiant.

"[Expletive] you!" he was quoted as telling officers, who then had to physically pull him from the vehicle and onto the ground. A number of officers swarmed around the suspect.

On the videotape, one officer appeared to kick at the suspect, and at least one other appeared to strike at him with a baton, and several officers surrounded him and struck him repeatedly. A police officer from an as-yet unidentified department also stunned him with a Taser.

Lt. Herrmann said the review of the incident will include whether excessive force was used and by whom. Pittsburgh police officers who use force in any situation must fill out a form that details the event and that is being done in this case.

Additionally, Pittsburgh police asked all officers from other departments who were involved in the chase to give statements of their actions to city detectives. Ten officers did so Friday night and two others will do so soon, Lt. Herrmann said.

He noted that Mr. McCleavy was a combative suspect believed to be armed and in the best of situations it is difficult to subdue and handcuff such an individual. The swarm of officers who were trying to help actually hindered a more orderly and quick securing of the prisoner, he said.

"Officers want to help, to assist in the best way they can. In my experience you get tunnel vision, you want to go in and get it done," he said.

"Too many people were trying to subdue the guy. Everybody gets in everybody else's way. One of the officers told me he had [the suspect's] hand and was trying to bring it around to handcuff him but couldn't because there were too many officers and he had to tell them to back off."