Intervening in a police chase

[Shawn Christ]

... the only other male employee I could see actually walked at high speed in the opposite direction.

So after buying whatever it was that I wanted, I pulled the accomplice off the security guard and tossed him up against some lockers.

Phil, interesting story. I'd day you did the right thing.

[Erik Loza]

Just remembered this: Late 1980's and I was walking on the sidewalk across the street from a strip mall in my neighborhood. In the parking lot of this mall, I heard tires squealing and this compact car goes racing out of the parking lot. At that same moment, an elderly woman is screaming that they stole something (her purse, I guess?) and also at that moment, an elderly man who I assume was her husband, draws a revolver discharges it from waist level a number of times in the direction of the fleeing car!

I doubt it was a blank gun and those bullets went somewhere. Never called the cops or anything, just kept walking but think about the endless number of "perceived" scenarios someone who had not witnessed the entire string of events unfold could have thought if they just walked onot it. They could have thought there was a crazy shooter in the parking lot and what if they acted on that? And what if it was another citizen with a gun (as we do have here in TX...) and that person decided to return fire, thinking they were stopping some crazy lone shooter (which we in fact had here in Austin, recently....)? Too many "what ifs" to get involved.

Erik Loza
Minimax

[Chuck Wintle]

Its better to be a living witness rather than a dead citizen. My personal belief is to let the police handle the situation and stay back. if it happened that I was in a good position to do something then I probably would.

[M Toupin]

"Be a good witness"

Please!

Don't interject yourself into a police situation, seldom is it helpful. Some folks just feel the need to "help" but in the heat of the moment the officers have no idea if you're an accomplice or some other threat. Until they sort it out you're part of the problem.

Mike

[Mike Chance in Iowa]

Back in the 90's I attended a dog sport event that, by some fluke, was held about 10 miles from my property. After the event was over, several out-of-town friends came over to my house for dinner, drinks and conversation. After dusk set in on that warm summer night, it was time for everyone to load up in their vehicles and head out. I walked along the driveway to open/close the gates. As I stood near the entry gate, I could see colored lights flashing on the trees near the main road and step out to see if it was an aid vehicle at the elderly neighbor's house on the main road. My property was located at the corner of a side road & main road.... As I'm standing near the side road signalling to my friends to hold up in the driveway, I start to hear the sirens and racing engines and know there is a high speed chase going on.

I caught a glimpse of a police car on the tail of a speeding vehicle and see 3 police vehicles following behind. As they passed behind my outbuilding near the intersection, I heard metal impact and screeching tires. The lead police vehicle had performed a pit maneuver and the car had spun and ended up across the side road from my property. It was too dark to see anything, but I could hear sounds in the field across the road from me.

None of my friends could leave because the intersection was now a filled with police vehicles & the wrecked vehicle and there was only 1 way out as the road my driveway was on was a No Outlet.

A police officer walked over and advised us they had been in pursuit of someone and he had fled into the field across from my property and they were waiting for the K9 unit to arrive to track the guy. He asked us all to please be patient and they would let my friends pass through when they could get a wrecker out. He assured us that all was under control and not to be worried.

My friends and I were all grinning and looking at each other and trying to stifle our laughing. The officer asked us what was so funny. We told him we were all members of a protection dog sport and were having our Nationals event "down the road a ways" and there were currently 3 tracking dogs and about 1 dozen protection trained dogs "here right now" as well as about two dozen more dogs "down the road" at the local hotel.

The officer couldn't help but laugh too and said something like "Lucky for him he didn't land in your field. Too bad we can't send all the dogs out."

It gave us a good topic to discuss the "what if" we had to send our dogs out to catch a bad guy. We all agreed that while our dogs could do the job, we hoped that day never happens as our dogs our our first & foremost our pets and could suffer injury or death due to a bad guy with a gun.

[Roy Turbett]

Being a good witness necessarily means that you give the police your name. This is especially true in high profile cases where the truth can become skewed depending on ones sympathies.

[Curt Harms]

It doesn't sound like you gave the police your contact information. They may need you at a future date to identify the guy that they eventually arrest as the one you saw running from the store. If they don't have your information you should give it to them. We all are responsible to stop crime by being willing witnesses.

I agree with you but there's a 'culture' which hold that "snitches get stitches" (and worse).

[Bruce Page]

I once followed a vehicle hit & run driver so my wife could get the license plate number. I'm not sure I would do that today.

[Mike Cutler]

Nope, I didn't intervene, I was the one doing the running. ( It was a much different era in the US 40 years ago. I wouldn't recommend running today.)

[Stan Calow]

I've been told by more than one police officer that if you get involved (unless your life is on the line) someone will likely try to hold you responsible for anything bad that happens after that point. That is, don't take action unless you are willing to risk getting sued for any injuries or damages to anybody that happen.

[Ed Aumiller]

About 6 years ago I had a car stolen from my driveway... Reported it to police... That evening my son & his wife stopped at a Hardee's (similiar to McDonalds) and there in front of him was my stolen car... they called 911 and told the dispatcher where the car was... It pulled out and got on I-81... my son followed it, his wife talking to the dispatcher the whole time... the person who stole it kept going faster and must have realized he was being tailed... they reached speeds of over 90 mph.. finally after about 16 miles the dispatcher asked if they were definitely sure it was my stolen car... when they answered YES, they were told to fall back and when they did, 6 police cars flew past them and pulled the thief over... my son said he had no idea where all the police appeared from so suddenly, but he was watching in front of him and did not see the police behind him until they hit the lights after he fell back
Surprisingly, the police did not say anything to him about the speeding, etc.... but the dispatcher had asked him to keep the stolen car in sight if possible and not to try to interfere or do anything except keep it in sight if safely possible which he did....
His wife was on the phone with the dispatcher the whole time...