This Weekend’s On Patrol: Live Highlights, Commentary, and Social Media Activity

A recap of the April 19, 2025, On Patrol: Live episode (#OPL 03-72), anchored in the NYC studio by attorney and host/executive producer Dan Abrams along with fellow On Patrol: Live studio cast members/co-hosts, Curtis Wilson and Tom Rizzo, follows.

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On Patrol: Live on Reelz tonight: The medieval jousting exhibition that opened the show, along with a Berkeley County car accident and interaction with a motorist on scene, and a time-consuming cat-ownership dispute generated the most social media activity during this episode. No follow-up discussion of On Patrol: Live ducks by the On Patrol: Live hosts occurred, however, that might have resulted in additional online activity. See below for details on all 24 law enforcement-related incidents on this new episode on Reelz.

How to Watch or Stream On Patrol: Live/Where to Watch On Patrol: Live

If you are among those possibly wondering where can I watch On Patrol: Live, Reelz, the home of On Patrol: Live, has now implemented a standalone streaming app, Reelz+, for subscribers to access all the channel’s content, including On Patrol Live episodes.

For background information about the ride-along documentary series On Patrol: Live (i.e., Live PD 2.0), that airs on the Reelz channel (which is also available, e.g., on the Peacock, FreeCast, Philo, and Sling streaming services, and on some satellite and cable systems such as DirectTV, DISH Network, AT&T U-verse, and Verizon FIOS TV), click on this link.

Click on this link for the On Patrol: Live recap of #OPL episode #03-71, April 18, 2025.

On Patrol: Live Recap for April 19, 2025 (#OPL Episode 03-72)

Please review this important DISCLAIMER.
  • Knox County, Tenn. — The episode opens with host Dan Abrams joking that Officer Dalton Swanger is responding to two armed men involved in a fight. It turns out that it is a “medieval sword fight in progress” per the On Patrol: Live caption about the exhibition where Swanger is present.
  • Lee County, Fla. — In a investigation that drags on interminably, Deputy Layne Reeves is on scene where a woman seeks to get her cats back from an ex. On Patrol: Live captions: “Feline fiasco,” “Is the cat out of the bag?,” “Mango! Tango! Bingo! Bango!,” “The cat’s in the bag!,” “Purr-fect ending!” After an animal control officer determines ownership from paperwork and chip readouts , the woman is reunited with her cats.

Abrams: “I know this is very important to her…but from Deputy Reeves’ perspective, my guess is he probably would like to be somewhere else.”

Abrams: “I know this is very important to her, and we’ve heard how significant these are, but from Deputy Reeves’ perspective, my guess is he probably would like to be somewhere else.” Rizzo: “And I’m gonna say, as somebody in the field, you’re right.” Wilson: “It’s just, some folks, they’re family members, and they just want their family member back.” “Abrams: “Yeah, but that’s a separate question from the law enforcement perspective. He’s literally been there for like the entire show; started the show with this. He’s still there. We’re keeping an eye on that. Hopefully, we don’t have to go back. I don’t usually say that, right? I usually say ‘we’re gonna go back to that.’ I’m gonna say ‘let’s hope we don’t have to go back to that.” On Patrol: Live does return to the scene one more time to see the cats returned to the owner. Abrams: “I feel for this woman; these cats are very important to her. She’s now gotten them back… there had been a dispute about who should get them. She has shown they belong to her.” From here, it’s a civil matter.

  • Daytona Beach, Fla. — Officer Jonathan Muniz responds to a report of a dog fight and makes contact with a man on scene. “Seems like the dogs cut up or digging a howl under the fence, and that’s how they’re gaining access to his property.” Officer Muniz adds that “so as it sits right now, the dogs are still in his backyard. We tried to knock on the residence where they belong to. Nobody’s answering the door. We do have priors at that address, so I want to see if I can make phone contact with the person who called in from that address, and hopefully somebody answers. He said one of the residents is a nurse, so she’s probably a daytime nurse, and at this time, maybe she’s sleeping because she probably works in the morning. So that could be a possibility.”
  • Berkeley County, S.C. — Deputy Bradley Brown responds to a traffic accident involving three vehicles. The driver of a van apparently has no ID. Deputy Brown, who hays several awkward interactions with the driver in part because of a language barrier. When the driver asks “you red redneck?” Deputy Brown responds “me? In the sun long enough, my neck turns red.” The seemingly moody driver is eventually detained, and a neighboring agency is to take over the DUI investigation. Deputy Brown: “The driver of this vehicle right here is very intoxicated…the driver is super intoxicated…”

Listen to some of the interaction between the deputy and the driver:

  • Daytona Beach, Fla. — K9 Detective Roger Lawson and other cops provide backup in a some sort of disturbance at an apartment complex. Officer Muniz: “Probably took some narcotics and freaked out out of nowhere, so a couple of officers had to come on scene, help him out. Thy said they got him detained already, so we’re just gonna stand by, see if anything else happens.” Detective Lawson: “They came out for a disturbance, and like Officer Goble was saying, that when they got here, the gentleman up there who’s currently unconscious was dragging a female through the house by her hair. So they ended up detaining him, and medical is on the way.” Officer Muniz adds that “obviously, he’s having a narcotic episode here. Units on scene took him down as easy as possible, so that way we can keep him safe, keep the officers safe. At this point, he’s definitely gonna be Baker Acted for everything that’s going on. He’s gonna be taken over to the hospital. We just need medical personnel to come on scene first, so that way they can check his vitals and check him out. And if he needs to be transported by medical, we can do that…but from what it looks like, we definitely want to have him transported by medical.”
  • Clayton County, Ga. (pre-recorded segment) — Deputy Rob Fleming and other cops conduct a traffic stop at gunpoint on an alleged stolen vehicle. The victim arrives on scene. Apparently this incident is part of a family dispute. Officer on scene: “…that’s your cousin, right? So family or not, if he’s willing to do that to his own family, what do you think he’ll do to the regular Sally Joe out here?…if you never wanted to press charges, why did you call the police in the first place? You said there’s an air tag in it, so you knew were it was going…”

Sergeant Joseph Toombs recap: “So this guy apparently is her cousin from what they said. I don’t know if it’s true or not, but that’s what she stated. So you’re gonna sit here and try to cover for this guy who took your vehicle without you giving him permission to do so. God knows what this guy was up to in that vehicle. She’s doing a disservice to herself, but at the same time, it’s her decision to make, so I respect the decision either way. But this guy has multiple warrants out of Clayton County. One is for felony obstruction of a police officer. So he will be taken to Clayton County Jail tonight. He presented another person’s driver’s license, so that’s another charge for him to be able to be taken in on as well.”

Tom Rizzo: “…we’re being solicited or recruited to be like collection agents almost. And it has nothing to do with not wanting to provide a service for a would-be victim or somebody seeking assistance…”

Abrams: “So it was only indirectly that she did a service for law enforcement there, right? By calling it in, then it turns out, ‘oh, he’s got these outstanding warrants,’ but without that, frustrating situation, right?” Rizzo: “Yeah, like…we’re being solicited or recruited to be like collection agents almost. And it has nothing to do with not wanting to provide a service for a would-be victim or somebody seeking assistance, but put us in a situation there where now a chase could happen, a felony stop could happen, all these bad things could happen, and all for you say, ‘oh, cool, I just wanted my car back.’ Wilson: “That’s it. Thank goodness he had some warrants that also made it big, so they could get him off the streets on that, and then, of course, get this vehicle back to the young lady, even though dispatch was getting this information that it wasn’t exactly what it was supposed to be.”

  • Monroe, La. — Officer Anthony Chambless investigates a drive-by shooting on another vehicle. “So right now, I’m trying to find places that the vehicle frequents through our license plate reader system. And we’re gonna search those areas that it frequents and attempt to locate it. If we do locate the vehicle, obviously it’s gonna be a felony stop due to the fact that they just shot at this vehicle. Right now, it looks like it frequents West Monroe area, so it would be outside of our jurisdiction. I’m gonna have the sheriff’s department as well as West Monroe PD be able to look out for the vehicle. And right now, I’m just trying to find the areas where it may be.”
  • Richland County, S.C. — Captain Danny Brown uses jumper cables to assist a motorist with a disabled vehicle.
  • Knox County, Tenn. — Officer James Epperson responds to a car accident in which a car is flipped on its side. The driver is successfully extracted. The motorist apparently thought there were others in the car, but that turns out to be unfounded. Abrams: “Initially, the concern was that someone had died. It now seems that that’s not the case.” Officer Epperson: “There’s some confusion on scene. The driver was convinced that he had just killed his friends. However the friends just showed up on the scene…essentially what happened is they stopped at a gas station, and they were telling him, ‘hey, don’t drive, don’t drive.’ But he took off. He took off driving. He’s intoxicated. There’s beers all over the place. And unfortunately he wrecked. He’s convinced that he’s killed his friends. Thank God, they are right here, and everybody’s fine. He’s actually okay, and no one is deceased inside the vehicle…thank God nobody was seriously hurt tonight.”

Abrams: “That is a perfect example of what can happen when you drive drunk.” Rizzo: “And also how the initial information from somebody involved turns out not to be factual information. You’ll often see with crashes like this, though, the severity of the crash will often kind of dictate the reaction. So even if a person may appear to be okay, let’s say on an initial assessment by the responding officers, they’ll still take some precautionary measures because as adrenaline then wears off or internal injuries, which is what obviously you can’t see with a crash like that.” Abrams: “And Curtis, you were pointing out that when they didn’t know, they wanted to make sure they looked around the area, too, right?” Wilson: “Got to check that perimeter because things like ejections can happen with individuals and so forth. Therefore, if this guy’s telling them, ‘hey, I killed someone, someone, one of my friends,’ they have to look and check that whole area…” Abrams: “And the good news is the friends then showed up alive.” Wilson: “And he’s alive, so that’s good.”

  • Berkeley County, S.C. — Deputy Brown and numerous other cops respond to a report of a fight at the fairgrounds, but the situation seems sorted out. Deputy Brown: “So it seems like everything’s calmed down. They got a few of them detained, trying to figure out from here, so we’re all just trying to help out Charleston County the best way we can.”

On Patrol: Live Hour 2

  • Richland County, S.C. — Captain Brown makes contact with a vehicle with two occupants outside a closed business. “You guys are loitering in a parking lot where we have drug activity.” The driver is detained (see below) after Captain Brown spots him allegedly reaching in the car. The driver say he was on a break and that he was reaching for his charger. A white baggie is allegedly found in a pat-down. “You are going to jail, brother.” On Patrol: Live caption: “Drugs found.” Car search. Open container and digital scale allegedly found. On Patrol: Live caption: “Drugs found.” Car search. Open container and digital scale allegedly found.

“You guys are loitering in a parking lot where we have drug activity.”

Abrams: “It’s still a little confusing as to whether he’s actually at work there or not. I would assume probably not…” Rizzo: And if you heard Captain Brown, so in an area of high criminal activity which he can personally attest to having the experience that he knows the area, he has indications of certain behaviors lead to certain things. So that’s what he’s operating on because again, he can testify to the fact that he’s done it so many times before. And lo and behold, he was correct.”

  • Triple Play #3 — a Santa Fe, N.M., pursuit.
  • Richland County, S.C. — Lieutenant Chris Blanding is on scene at “a very, very large party,” and, according to Abrams, “he’s been called in to address it in some way. We don’t know exactly what’s going on…” Rizzo: “I wonder who’s the one that called on that one. It looks like every house — the whole community is involved in it.” Wilson: “Except that one neighbor who wasn’t invited.” A police drone is also deployed.

Lieutenant Blanding: “So right now, we have a huge block party in one of our known high-crime area, a lot of gang activity, and I drove through there just now, and I saw about four faces that I know are validated gang members. So right now, we still have regional units down there, just being present, just in case anything goes off because they’re posting it on social media. So if any rival gang wants to come do anything, we know where they’re at, and what they’re doing. So kind of just trying to keep the peace for the night. We have tools that we’re using to keep eyes on and see if anybody’s doing anything suspicious…”

  • Daytona Beach, Fla. (pre-recorded segment) — Lieutenant Richie Maher and other cops pursue an alleged fleeing motorist and arrest him at a residence. Abrams introduces the footage by quipping that “Maher had a ‘close shave’ with a driver trying to ‘cut and run.'” Lieutenant Maher claims that “he’s got a freshly, poorly done haircut like he just buzzed his head.”

Listen to Lieutenant Maher (“don’t run from Daytona”) and then the studio panel (Abrams: “the guy gets a little bit of credit for effort here…) briefly comment on this incident:

  • Daytona Beach, Fla. — Detective Lawson backs up Detection Noah Galbreath on a routine traffic stop on Lyft driver who allegedly was “driving around in circles” because she didn’t know “where she’s at.” The driver is released with a warning.
  • Clayton County, Ga. — Deputy Fleming and other LEOs respond to a home invasion call but it seems it was a false alarm.

Listen to Deputy Fleming’s recap:

  • Monroe, La. — Officer Christian Carter and colleagues converge on a residence on a report of an assault with a pipe. The victim is apparently not at the location.

On Patrol: Live Hour 3

  • Daytona Beach, Fla. — Officer Muniz, Detective Lawson, and Sergeant James Maher respond to a report of a shooting. Foot pursuit of some juveniles who are running. LEOs detain one man who allegedly has a bullet in his pocket. Another K9 officer conducts an article search for a firearm or other contraband. Cops provide several updates. On Patrol: Live caption: “Investigating shooting.”

Detective Lawson initial summary: “Trying to settle down the chaos here. What we have so far is officers were in the area over here. They heard shots ring out, started canvassing the area, and ended up getting flagged down about a possible person shot who units are out with right now. At that time, multiple juveniles took off running from police officers right out of the area. One was apprehended by VCAT [Violent Crime Apprehension Team] Sergeant Maher here, and he ended up having a live round in his pocket. So right now, we’re just canvassing for the gun. There is a vehicle description that was given, and we have our intel guys working on that now, see if they can locate it.”

Detective Lawson update: “It sounds like the male that Sergeant Maher detained earlier might possibly be the suspect. We’re still trying to gather that. At this point, we’re gonna have K9 Officer Wakefield deploy his partner, K9 Halo, and we’re gonna attempt [an] article search, basically to try to recover any clothing or a weapon involved in this. Now, we were given a description by some of the witnesses…and the male we have over here fits…so we’re gonna see if we can locate the black jacket.” Rizzo: “What you heard them doing is they’re doing an article search search as compared to a search for a person or a suspect so that there’s in such close proximity to what just happened. There will be a transfer of a human odor onto the article, piece of clothing, hopefully a bag, that will contain the handgun that they’re looking for to match. That’s why you’ll see such a broad crime scene taken they have up here, and then they’ll work outward-in so they’ll max it and then minimize the size of it.”

Detective Lawson further recap: “We have confirmed at this point via video surveillance that this male that [other officers] contacted is one of these shooters, so that’s a great job on their part. At this point, we’re just trying to locate the firearm…” Abrams: “Well, that’s some good police work. They were able to so quickly detain the suspect, get the video, link it up.” Rizzo: “And then what you’re seeing, what they’re doing with the dog, they’re actually trying to pick up more scent as they go, because that’s so difficult with such a wide area search like that. Very, very difficult, but certainly worth a chance, because if you get the weapon or another article of clothing to tie the people to that scene, that would be even better.”

When On Patrol: Live originally started covering this incident, Abrams cautioned that the juveniles may or may not be involved, and Rizzo explained why cops arriving at a crime scene of this kind reasonably would have to question them:

  • Richland County, S.C. — Lieutenant Blanding responds to some sort of a disturbance at an apartment complex. A male apparently wants a female to leave and she agrees to do so. The male does not seem enamored with the lieutenant’s flashlight. Lieutenant Blanding: “You have the freedom of speech. I have the freedom to use my light.”

“You have the freedom of speech. I have the freedom to use my light.”

  • Berkeley County, S.C. — Corporal Ronnie Russell participates in a pursuit.
  • Missing segment — Durham, N.C.
  • Las Vegas, Nev. — Officers Preston Prescia and Russell Booze respond to a burglary or home invasion. The homeowner or a neighbor is subduing a male at the scene. Upon arriving, cops detain an older male with no shirt.

Officer Booze recap: “So I made contact with the initial man that was holding this guy down. He didn’t physically make entry. He was just in the backyard. He sees the guy in his sister’s backyard. She goes up to confront him and tells him to get out. They get into a little altercation in the middle of the street. And that’s when we get here. He’s detained and that’s that. So like I said, no real residential burglary or anything like that. Just trespassing is all we really have at this point. So we’ll talk to the victim of the trespassing, the technical trespassing, and see what she wants to do, if she wants to press charges, and go from there.”

  • Clayton County, Ga. (pre-recorded segment) — Cops chase a fleeing vehicle in a high-speed pursuit (allegedly 140 mph). The car wrecks out in the woods, and an individual is detained in the area after a search. Deputy Mikal Jones: “You are very lucky. You almost woke up dead.” Paramedics summoned to the scene.” According to Deputy Jones in the audio clip embedded below, the detained man is likely a passenger. A search is ongoing for two suspects. Abrams: “Warrants were issued for the registered owner of the car who already had 20-plus warrants out of Georgia and Ohio.”
  • Knox County, Tenn. — As the episode concludes, Officer Swanger investigates a car accident and makes contact with a driver who says he was out getting some milk. “Am I on TV?” He also allegedly admits to consuming three drinks. Field sobriety testing administered. Abrams: “Curtis correctly just pointing out to me that this guy said the car itself wasn’t his. That doesn’t change the fact that he was driving.”