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

A recap of the December 16, 2023, OPL episode (OPL #02-40) appears below.

About 50 On Patrol: Live cameras go into the field with the law enforcement officers usually from eight or nine different U.S. departments during the ride-along on Friday and Saturday evenings as aired on the Reelz channel. 

An On Patrol: Live recap, including NYC studio host Dan Abrams’ one liners, analysis, and banter with co-host Curtis Wilson, the Richland County, S.C., deputy sheriff, and this weekend’s guest analyst Capt. Tom Rizzo, follows.

[Click here for the OPL #02-39 recap]

Please review this important DISCLAIMER.

Note: This is the last episode of the year. OPL is on holiday hiatus until January 5, 2024.

On Patrol: Live Summary for December 16, 2023 (#OPL Episode 02-40)

  • Toledo, Ohio — Ofrs. Heather Smith and Austin Bly respond to a ShotSpotter alert for shots fired in a residential neighborhood. Ofr. Bly: “Right now, we’re not finding anything…in looking at the ShotSpotter; it’s pinging right in this backyard, so we’ll try to make contact with the homeowner here just to make sure they’re all right, if they heard anything…” Ofr. Smith interacts with the homeowner and mentions that “we didn’t see anything. We checked in your backyard. We didn’t see any signs of a shooting, but if you find a window or something was shot out later on, calls us back out, and we’ll come deal with it.” Ofr. Smith adds that the homeowner and his brother “heard what they thought might have been fireworks. Our ShotSpotter is detecting gunfire in their backyard or in the alley. So they’re claiming they didn’t hear anything. If they find out anything else, they said they’d give us a call.”
  • Richland County, S.C. — Master Dep. Addy Perez, Sgt. Kenny Fitzsimmons, and other units respond to a report of a home invasion in progress. Sgt. Fitzsimmons: “House is clear. Didn’t see any signs of forced entry or anything like that. Just chalk it up as a false alarm.” He adds that deputies will let the keyholder know that the house is secure.
  • Berkeley County, S.C. — Cpl. Bryson Fowler goes to a residence and retrieves a lost phone from an Uber driver and will bring to a police station for the Uber customer, who the driver describes as being “wasted” during the ride, to pick up. Caption: “Phone a friend.”
  • Berkeley County, S.C. — Cpl. Dylan Lee, along with the fire department and paramedics, respond to a house fire. Cpl. Lee: “Fire department on scene; we’ll let them do what they do best.” Abrams quips that people at the scene seem nonchalant about the blaze. Cpt. Rizzo: “Saturday night lights, I guess, right?” Abrams: “The fire department is there, which is the good news. That’s why we can still laugh about it.” Cpl. Lee: “Well, I was able to help. I let the fire department know what better angle to go at — the next street over. So they’re gonna go over there so the can stretch a hose or line and put that out. I will standby and assist, ‘supervise.’ To me, it looks like it’s already going out without the fire department’s help.” Abrams, who describes Lee “always an entertaining gentlemen,” observes that “so the dude with the hose was actually able to put this out?!”
  • Fullerton, Calif. — Ofrs. Jason Coleman and Max Raj respond to a single-car rollover accident and detain a man who was allegedly walking away from the scene. Caption: “Investigating rollover accident.” The subject allegedly says he consumed three beers. Field sobriety testing. The car is right-sided and towed. Dep. Wilson: “Sometimes people still have that mentality that if they can make it to the house, it’s kind of home base for them, the issue over here, we’ll deal with later.”

Abrams: “This guy starts with two strikes against him, right? He’s got a single-car overturned on the street, and then he walks away.” Cpt. Rizzo: “Again, they have to go right way from initial response being that ‘we’re gonna have to treat somebody,’ right?, a car is on its side, somebody must be seriously injured.’ So switching gears right way to the investigative side of it, right?” Dep. Wilson: “That’s what it is. And you talk about people watching this and saying ‘you can tell he’s intoxicated. Why are you gonna through all these tests, why you putting him through this. It’s very important to document this stuff, especially for court…”

Ofr. Coleman summary: “So the initial call was a single-vehicle TC; it was a rollover traffic collision. The description that was put out by my partner was that the person who was driving the vehicle witness said was wearing a red jersey and that he was fleeing the area westbound. So my partner, Officer Raj, and I ended up locating him running down the street on the north sidewalk. Detained him. It was very clear when I initially contacted him that he was under the influence of alcohol. I could smell a heavy odor of alcohol coming from his person which led me to believe that he was under the influence. He showed many other objective signs and symptoms which prompted us to start our DUI investigation, and he is now been placed in custody for driving under the influence. He admitted to being in a traffic collision also. So we’re gonna head back to the station to complete the booking process.” Abrams: “You’re gonna try and escape from the scene wearing a big red Jerry Rice jersey probably isn’t the best idea.”

  • Toledo, Ohio — Ofr. Smith conducts a traffic stop on a car that made “weird turn signals” and allegedly rolled through a stop sign. The car also has its high beams on. Ofr. Smith to driver: “Is there a reason that you have an attitude with me?…I don’t think I’ve ever even met you, so it’s not me always bugging you. You got to drive a little safer, and then we won’t pull you over.” Ofr. Smith: “On routine patrol, we saw this vehicle driving quickly, turning its turn signals on, but not making the turns, and then going straight, changing its mind. When we got to a stop sign, they ended up rolling the stop sign. So we stopped them for failing to stop at a stop sign. I’m gonna run them to make sure they’re valid and that everything’s good to go.”

Abrams: “He’s right. He doesn’t have to make the turn, but she’s right that she can still investigate whether there is a possible DUI or anything else involved in a situation like this.”

  • Toledo, Ohio (pre-recorded segment) — Ofr. Greg Long Jr. and other units pursue a car that fled from a traffic stop and quickly detain the driver after he foot-bailed. The driver insists that “I didn’t do anything.” No contraband found in vehicle.
  • Toledo, Ohio — Ofr. Shade Keeney and other units conduct an investigation at McDonald’s where three suspects in masks allegedly assaulted a worker there an fled toward KFC. Seeing the OPL camera at the scene, another employee wonders “am I on the news?” In terms of a description, an employee claims that one of the suspects “looked like underwear covering his face.” Cops search the area for the suspects. Ofr. Keeney also intends to review security footage. Ofr. Keeney: “So it sounds like three males came in here and assaulted one of the employees. I thought maybe they knew the employee, but it sounds like he doesn’t know who it is, so they just came in and randomly assaulted him while they recorded it. They fled on foot. So we got a description. We’re gonna go over here in the area and see if we can located them walking.” Keeney later adds that employees provided a brief description of the suspects who were wearing sweatsuits and “we’re just checking the area now to see if we can locate those three…” Further information seems to suggest that the victim and the suspects perhaps knew each other. Abrams: “It does sound like they may have known the young man who was working at the McDonald’s, right?” Cpt. Rizzo: Yeah; they asked by name. So the chances of this being some type of random assault or attack are slim to none.”
  • Berkeley County, S.C. — Cpls. Lee and Fowler investigates an incident where shots were allegedly fired at a residence and “two people fighting in the yard.” Cpl. Lee: “So apparently the subject got into a fight with the son. Left. Nobody got hit by any gunfire. Allegedly there is no gunfire…but he’s left, so everything is good to go and fine now.” The cops later makes contact with a party at a nearby location who provides additional information. Cpl. Fowler: “We come out here for services all the time. We’re very familiar with everybody here. So she’s saying that she got shoved in the back and that’s why she has marks on her face. So we’re just gonna do a report for her. We’ll try to make contact with the other subject to see what his side of the story is. If I can’t, then we’ll go forward with other options.”

Further update from Cpl. Fowler: “We had an earlier call down the street…sounds like her son was over there, started boxing with another male; they got into it, they got a little too physical. One of the people there took her son over here, he’s obviously belligerent and highly intoxicated, came out here and started arguing. Sounds like the other girl inside came out to see what was going on. Started walking down the street. She got out with her, the subject’s mother…and then they got into it or something like that, and then they walked down the street. And then when the other female was walking back with the other female, the male over there that came over here, pushed her in the back. And she had to catch herself. She busted up her face and her arms and her hand. She doesn’t want to press charges. The issue is we have to locate this guy…I’ll do a little bit of digging, and once I do find him, then we can get warrants for him, and all that good stuff, for assault and batter in the third degree, and we’ll go from there.”

Abrams: “Well, that was a necessary clarification because I’ll admit that I didn’t totally understand every that was going on there, and that’s why it’s good to have officers in the field who can explain to us exactly what is happening and why they’re doing what they’re doing.”

  • Berkeley County, S.C. — Cpls. Fowler and Lee respond to a noise complaint at a party and ask the homeowner to turn down the music volume. Abrams: “From a police perspective, many have been called to noise complaints. And for the rest of us, we’ve all probably been at a party where the police have arrived at some point or another. You say, ‘oh my goodness, the police are here.'” Wilson: “For the most part, though, they don’t like to have to tell you to do this. It’s their job.” Abrams: “They got a call. They got to respond.”
  • Richland County, S.C. (pre-recorded segment) — Cops including Dep. Ethyn Perkins track a driver who might be connected to an earlier burglary. Pursuit of the fleeing vehicle turns into a foot pursuit after the driver bails. The suspect is detained. Abrams: “We like to talk about good police work when it happens. In this case, the pieces kind of got handed to them, right?” Rizzo: “I almost think that he should get an assist, the suspect, should on this. A bright orange shirt, leaves his DoorDash identity behind – – he almost just needs the neon sign that’s following him down the road that says ‘come locate me.'” Wilson: “…he’s committing a burglary in his vehicle and doing DoorDash in the same vehicle. We don’t say the criminals are the smartest.” Abrams: “I’m sure the folks at DoorDash are thrilled to have heard about his side gig.”
  • Lee County, Fla. — Cops make a traffic stop; voluntary car search. K9 Atlas alerts, but no drugs found. The driver is released with a warning for a traffic infraction. During the sequence, Abrams channels Bill Murray from Caddyshack.
  • Indian River County, Fla. — On a rainy night, Det. Christian Castano and other units conduct a bicycle stop on a demonstrative man who claims he just got out of jail. According to Det. Castana, tells the man that he stopped him because he was traveling against the flow of traffic: “At one point, you were going northbound in the southbound lanes of traffic of U.S. 1…if you’re an avid bicyclist, you should know that bicyclists are to follow the rules of the road.” In a sequence that prompted social media controversy (see below), K9 Dingo sniffs the man but doesn’t officially alert, but the man’s person winds up getting searched. Castano explains that that the dog “didn’t come to a final alert on that one, but…I observed a noticeable change of behavior, so based on that, we’re gonna do a search and see what we find.”

Abrams: “I’ll admit I’ve never seen a K9 used to determine probable cause to search a person as opposed to a vehicle. As he was walking up, I was wondering is Dingo gonna be evaluating the bike or the individual, and he ended up not even alerting.” Rizzo: “Right. A change in behavior as he indicated, but very rare…again, I’m with you on that. I don’t know.” Wilson: “It could be anything from the weather that’s caused the dog to stop or whatever the case may be, but again, now he’s gonna do a physical search on this guy, and I’m just having that feeling it’s still gonna come up empty.” Abrams: Yeah. “And even if it doesn’t, certainly let’s just say there are arguments to be made in court as to potential issues.”

Referencing that “curious situation,” Abrams provides an update: “Turns out the guy was released with no charges.”

  • Triple Play #3 — Hazen, Ark.
  • Fullerton, Calif. — Ofr. Matthew Levin conducts a traffic stop for a tag-light infraction. Ofr. Levin spots some ammo in the console. The driver allegedly says he has a gun in his waistband but no permit. The driver is detained; voluntary car search. Rizzo: “That type of ammunition is supposed to be used for lawful purposes for people that are trained accordingly, right? And yes, it’s not meant be kind. It’s meant to do max damage when it does penetrate what it’s meant to penetrate.” Abrams: “And he’s also talking about the gun itself as well.” Rizzo: “One hundred percent…” Abrams: “And the question is why does he have this.” “Rizzo: “Exactly.” Abrams: “The driver “was arrested for unlawful carry of a firearm; the woman who was there drove away with the vehicle with no charges.”
  • Lee County, Fla. (pre-recorded segment) — Dep. Terry Fogarty responds to a domestic incident at a residence in which, according to Abrams, “things got contentious when a couple failed to ‘iron’ out their differences.” Arriving on the scene, Fogarty characterizes the disturbance as one “where allegedly the boyfriend choked out the girlfriend.” The woman tells cops that her significant other “just went apesh*t.” The male claims she allegedly brandished an iron at him in the altercation and asks how to spell “berserk” when writing a statement. Dep. Fogarty points out that she has marks on her neck and the male has mark on his arm which means “we take both of you…or we don’t arrest anybody. We just separate the parties. In a further explanation, Fogarty explains that “We going to separate them both for the night. The male half is gonna go, probably stay in a hotel. My partner is going to stay here, watch her gather some things, and watch her leave…you can tell she’s intoxicated…”

Abrams: “Well, this took quite a turn, and this why you got to investigate.” Wilson: “And this is why you also got to separate. Get both sides of the story, see what’s going on, and then the two officers will come together and see exactly who says what, and corroborate what goes on.” Rizzo: “No doubt. And also, if you have two parties, both parties with signs of injury or allegations of assault and crimes, who’s the aggressor. We have to pick one at this point, and that’s the whole purpose of doing like you said… Abrams: “But the iron was the physical evidence, that was the corroborating evidence.”

  • Fullerton, Calif. — Police investigate an incident in a parking lot in which one man allegedly threated another with a gun. An irate subject is detained at gunpoint or taser point. Ofr. Jason Ham repeatedly asks the demonstrative subject to “just relax” because “you’re going way overboard, bro.” Abrams calls attention to another guy there next to a dumpster. Ofr. Max Raj: “Right now, we have an allegation by a victim that states that the male that we have detained her had brandished a firearm at him and asked him if he was a gangbanger. Initially, we tried to contact the subject we had detained, and he was being uncooperative. One of our officers conducted a records check, determined that the subject we have detained is on informal probation, with search-and-seizure status, meaning that we can search the property he has…and just conduct our investigation. So at this time, we’re gonna try to find a firearm, if there is one, inside the vehicle.”

Abrams update: “Well, they didn’t find the gun, and the guy who made the accusation did not want to press charges, so he was released with no charges.”

  • Richland County, S.C. — Sgt. Fitzsimmons and other units detain a man who allegedly broke into a construction site and driving a forklift around the property. Fitzsimmons uses a translate app to communicate with the subject. Another officer on scene speaks Spanish directly to the subject in the course of an investigation. According to Sgt. Fitzsimmons, the subject claims he’s a security guard at the complex, but that “doesn’t make any sense why he’s driving the equipment around though.” Fitzsimmons also mentions that “I can smell alcohol coming off the guy” and that the subject said he consumed “two beers.” Investigation ongoing. “Not sure what kind of security company he works for, but doesn’t seem too legit to me,” the corporal adds. Abrams quips that “and maybe they were also able to find him quickly because he was driving a forklift. I’m just saying.”
  • BOLO segment — Hollywood, Fla., porch pirates a.k.a. package pilferers.
  • Berkeley County, S.C. — Cpl. Fowler spots a citizen wearing a Christmas-theme onesie on the street. “Looks great, man.”
  • Coweta County, Ga. — Dep. Calvin Kirby conducts a traffic stop on a slow-rolling 18 wheeler for no lights. The driver is released with just a warning.
  • Berkeley County, S.C. — Cpls. Lee and Flower respond to a brother-sister dispute at a residence and interview the parties involved. The brother, who is apparently the homeowner, asserts that “I’m the tat, she’s the tit.” The siblings, who live in the same house, are apparently separated for the night.
  • Coweta County, Ga. — Cpl. Chris Teare conducts a traffic stop for speeding (allegedly going 81 mph in a 55-mph zone) and after a quick license check, releases the driver with a warning. “If a deer runs out at 81 miles an hour, and you swerve, you’re gonna end up in a tree, okay? I don’t want you to get hurt in a crash.” The driver says she’s heading to her mother’s ailing mother’s house. Cpl. Teare: “I’m gonna say a prayer for you and hope everything’s okay. But you need to get there safely, okay?”
  • Richland County, S.C. — Sgt. Fitzsimmons and other units pull over a Challenger that may or may not have been the same one allegedly fleeing from an attempted traffic stop for speeding. The driver admits to no license; the vehicle has mismatched tags. Abrams: “As they continue to question this person, it doesn’t seem like this is the same vehicle involved in that other incident.” Fitzsimmons notes that “his tag is suspended for no insurance.” Abrams: “So this guy is in some hot water there, but some bad luck as well, because they’re actually looking for a similar vehicle, and this isn’t it. It just happens that he has other problems that he has got to deal with.” Rizzo: “Wrong place, wrong time.” Abrams: “And they are going to tow that vehicle now as well.”
  • Coweta County, Ga. — Cpl. Teare responds to some sort of dispute or well-being check at an adult store and asks a female driver in the parking lot to step out of her car. Paramedics summoned to the scene. Caption: “Report of public intoxication.” Cpl. Teare explains that “the staff inside said she was handing them her card and she fell out and rolled around, then stood up, and and then face-planted by the door. So we’re not gonna let her drive obviously, but it sounds like she’s aware of that.”
  • Daytona Beach, Fla. — As the episode concludes, Ofr. Eddie Lee responds to a residential alarm amidst heavy rain in the area. “Everything’s looking secure so far. I’m gonna try to make contact with the homeowner on their Ring doorbell. I suspect it’s just because of the storm.”