High Incident (1996)

When Gayle (Catherine Kellner) is badly wounded in the line of duty, the El Camino police force begins a desperate search for the perpetrator. New cast members are introduced including, Blair Underwood as Officer Mike Rhoades, Lisa Vidal as Officer Jessica Helgado, and Lindsey Frost as Sergeant Helen Sullivan. Beth (Lesle Boone) experiences a series of false labor pains causing her husband Terry (Mathew Beck) to panic. When she is finally ready to deliver, Terry is not around and it is a nervous Russel (Louis Mustillo) who must take over. Gayle dies as Beth gives birth to a healthy 7 pound, 6 ounce baby boy.

Jim Marsh (David Keith) finds his car has been vandalized by Julia's murderer, her husband, who insanely blames Jim for breaking up his marriage and forcing him to kill his wife. Terry (Matthew Beck) has become a new father and must deal with Russell's (Louis Mustillo) paternal feelings as well as his own. Jessie (Lisa Vidal) and Mike (Blair Underwood) feel their talents are being wasted when they are assigned to bus patrol. A nasty mob attacks the bus, changing their minds.

Jim Marsh (David Keith) and Randy Willitz (Cole Hauser) pursue a truck full of illegal immigrants until it crashes. A bystander videotapes the incident, as Marsh uses force to contain and arrest the driver. The driver accuses Jim of using excessive force. A passenger of the truck later dies of wounds the driver inflicted on him. Mike and Jessie respond to a two-car collision. Mike is harassed by the gathering crowd for not protecting ""his own,"" after he cites a black man for reckless driving. A member of the Algerian women's Olympic track team steals a diamond bracelet from a jewelry store because she wants to be put in jail in America so she won't have to return home where she fears persecution.

A bomb explodes in a sleazy motel. Hours later, a second bomb explodes in the back of a station wagon. Jessica (Lisa Vidal) gets a soda from the ECPD vending machine, and discovers it's attached to a bomb inside the machine. Willitz consoles her, as a bomb expert diffuses the situation. Meanwhile, Len, who is having marital problems, thinks he is falling in love with Lynette, his deceased partner's widow. He goes to her to confess his feelings. Leslie finally meets the daughter she gave up for adoption, ten years before. Terry and Russel respond to a call about a possible truck bomb only to discover a stash of marijuana buried under a load of manure. The bomber turns out to be the owner of the station wagon that blew up. Jim Marsh, Randy Willitz and Mike chase him into a drainage channel. The bomber has dynamite strapped to his chest and threatens to blow Marsh and himself up. Marsh convinces the man that his children need him.

Mike Rhodes (Blair Underwood) arrests a 15-year-old juvenile and takes him under his wing. Later the teen is beaten-up by his step-father. He finds his step-fathers gun and threatens to shoot the man. The kid is coaxed into dropping the gun by Rhodes and the abuser is arrested. When Len's son, Joel is missing, the El Camino police force come together for the search and Sue (Elizabeth Harmon-Haid) blames Len's affair with Lynette for their distraught son's disappearance. Len goes undercover and gets the convicted child molester who took his son, to lead him to where the attacker took him. Joel is scared but unharmed. Meanwhile, Russell is concerned about his baptism duties as the christening date for Terry's son approaches. Leslie finally tells her peers about her long lost daughter.

Halloween is a cop's nightmare. Halloween day begins with a station wagon crashing into a prison bus, allowing four convicts to escape. Halloween night is even more tense. Lenny Gayer (Matt Craven) is crushed when his wife decides that she doesn't want him to spend Halloween with her and the kids. Randy Willitz (Cole Hauser) must face the fact that his father is an alcoholic after he's arrested for DUI. Leslie (Aunjanue Ellis) is torn between Trick-or-Treating with her daughter Anita, and being a good cop. Russell (Louis Mustillo) spends his day trying to scare Sergeant Sullivan (Lindsay Frost).

El Camino is shaken by a 6.2 earthquake. Jessie (Lisa Vidal) and Mike Rhodes (Blair Underwood) are called to a collapsed tunnel, where they attempt to save the life of a young woman in labor. The woman is trapped inside an ambulance and bleeding. Mike breaks one of the ambulances small windows, and Jessie squeezes through. The woman later bleeds to death, but Jessie must continue to deliver the baby. The boy baby is born healthy. Just when Terry (Matthew Beck) and his family think they made it through the earthquake unharmed, they learn their home has been destroyed.

Lenny (Matt Craven) is jealous of Mike's (Blair Underwood) interest in Lynette. Jim Marsh (David Keith) discovers that Sargeant Sullivan (Lindsay Frost) has temporarily made herself his partner. Russell (Louis Mustillo) and Terry (Matthew Beck) stop a medical student for an illegal left-hand turn, and discover he's carrying a cadaver in his trunk to sell to a man that re-sells them to off-shore medical schools. The department tries to apprehend a group of professional robbers who have been assaulting armored truck drivers and stealing the money.

This was the series finale. This episode was a take of the bank robberies in the Los Angeles area. In this episode several officers were hit in the line of duty and it was clear that the series was either changing directions or they the producers knew that the series was over and just left all of us to hang in the wind. High Incident deserved a much better sendoff..