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

A recap of the January 18, 2025, On Patrol: Live episode (#OPL 03-48), anchored in the NYC studio by attorney and host Dan Abrams along with co-host Curtis Wilson and analyst Tom Rizzo, follows.

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Abrams describes the episode as “a very busy night on On Patrol: Live,” and because of that, he humorously alludes to his fellow panelists’ relative silence during the show: “I assure you Curtis Wilson and Tom Rizzo are here. It’s just been so busy tonight that we haven’t been able to get in a lot.”

Note: Click here for the recap of #OPL episode 03-47, January 17, 2025.

On Patrol: Live Summary for January 18, 2025 (#OPL Episode 03-48)

Please review this important DISCLAIMER.
  • Richland County, S.C. — Master Dep. Addy Perez backs up Cpt. Danny Brown on a traffic stop for alleged reckless driving. Three occupants, two females and an older male who the duo had allegedly just picked up from the hospital. Open container allegedly spotted. Car search. Cpt. Brown to driver: “Anytime you redirect my questions, it gets me suspicious.” Cpt. Brown to passenger: “You do have a pipe, but not this one?” On Patrol: Live caption: “Drug paraphernalia found.” According to On Patrol: Live host Dan Abrams, the two female occupants “were both arrested for possession of crack cocaine; the man was released with no charges.”
  • Humboldt County, Calif. — Deps. Luis Bonilla and Daniel Dodd, plus other units, converge on a residence to serve a domestic violence warrant. The deputies convince the man to finally come out of the house, and he is detained.

On Patrol: Live host Dan Abrams asks his colleagues about LEOs having to wait for the subject to come out: “They couldn’t just go in. Why?” Studio analyst Tom Rizzo: “Well, depending on the severity of the warrant, an arrest warrant for the person at their place of residence could actually allow them legally to enter. Abrams: “But they would have to have it specifically at the place, right?” Rizzo: “One hundred percent, but we would also rather them come out, right? Going in could then, what, ignite some type of altercation…” On Patrol: Live co-host Curtis Wilson: “Sometimes, if you can get the warrant signed, definitely can have that warrant in their hand, call and say, we got it, now they know they can do it.” Abrams: “But the good news is he did come out…”

  • Clayton County, Ga. — Dep. Edward Leonard and other units conduct a traffic stop on a parked car. On Patrol: Live caption : “Possible loitering.” The motorist, possibly a ride-share driver, says he is eating pizza and salad in his vehicle. Dep. Leonard: “It smells like spoiled, homogenized milk in your car….you are peculiar. You just made a quick garden salad in the car, just chillin’?” On Patrol: Live caption: “Tossing salad in car.”

Listen to the deputy and the driver discuss in-car cuisine:

  • Daytona Beach, Fla. — K9 Detective Roger Lawson assists in a pursuit of a fleeing vehicle of which cops subsequently lose sight. Det. Lawson explains that cops at least temporarily “lost eyes on it” — listen below:
  • Knox County, Tenn. (pre-recorded segment) — Tracking a person allegedly with warrants, Lt. Matt Lawson and other units make a traffic stop at a shopping plaza parking. Four occupants. The driver, who allegedly has the warrants, is detained. Meth pipe allegedly spotted in car. Lt. Lawson recap: “So we ended up getting about 540 grams of methamphetamine. The four occupants in the car — two of them are going to jail. They were in full possession of the narcotics, and we believe them to be the persons that were distributing it and using it. So those two will go to jail tonight. We’re gonna cut the the mom of the female suspect and her friend lose in just a moment, and we’ll wrap this up.” Abrams: “That’s a lot of meth right there.”
  • Richland County, S.C. — Dep. Perez and other units respond to a report of an alleged home invasion by a woman’s ex-boyfriend. “It was the boyfriend that was knocking on the door, but he left the scene, so they’re just making contact with her and getting some information just in case he comes back.”
  • Berkeley County, S.C. — Cpl. Hunter Rogers makes a traffic stop on a car that was allegedly “all over the roadway.” He also claims that a strong odor of weed was emanating from the vehicle and allegedly spots shake in the car. Rogers: “He had marijuana residue in his lap…he admitted he was smoking going down the road…” Probable cause car search. The cooperative driver, whose license is valid and has no warrants, is released with a warning after a small amount of weed is stomped out. Rogers: “Just weed.”
  • Monroe, La. — Sgt. Scotty Sadler and other members of the High Enforcement Apprehension Team (HEAT) squad conduct a traffic stop at a convenience store.
  • Knox County, Tenn. — In an incident that consumed a lot of On Patrol: Live airtime, Ofrs. Dalton Swanger and Gunes Akyildiz, among others, pursue a fleeing vehicle that culminates in a trailer park. The driver abandons the car, prompting a LEO foot pursuit. They make contact on scene with an individual who admits to being in the vehicle (“I was a passenger in the car, and I was scared to death…”) and who provides information in response to Dep. Swanger’s questions, including that the suspect supposedly ran because he is allegedly on parole and “has a curfew.” Cops eventually detain the alleged driver. On Patrol: Live caption: “Suspect in custody.”

Dep. Swanger summary: “We had two suspects run from us, ran from another officer. We had a K9 track. K9 lost the track somewhere, somewhere around the road that down there that you cannot see right now, But we did get the passenger who was actually able to tell us which direction that the other suspect went. And I guess this, these, two trailers to my right over here belongs to the family of the suspect. And as we knocked at the door, he came out and surrendered peacefully, but he won’t talk to us. But we did talk to the mom, and mom did say he wasn’t here earlier, and the passenger already put the suspect in the vehicle, so we have probable cause to take him in custody at this time. So it’s good work.”

  • Triple Play #3 — A Columbus, Ohio, pursuit of an allegedly carjacked vehicle.
  • Daytona Beach, Fla. — Detective Lawson assists VCAT (the Violent Crime Apprehension Team) in a brief foot pursuit of a suspect who is subdued and detained.

Det. Lawson recap: “Detectives Howell and Galbreath made a traffic stop — I’m out of breath because I’m so fast — and the dude just took off running. He came back over this way. Obviously, we didn’t have the charges to send the dog, but ultimately, he’s in custody. Like I say every time, don’t run from VCAT…so to what Detective Howell was saying, he stopped the vehicle, just a routine traffic violation. Had gotten — received — consent to search from the occupants of the vehicle. I guess at whatever point, this gentleman that ran was the passenger, and as soon as he stepped out and got like toward the back of the car, he took off running, which, obviously, like Detective Howell said, he’s got a protection order, which means he can’t have a firearm anyway. And the bag that he said was his had the loaded firearm in it. So, all in all, good. Everybody’s safe. Nobody’s hurt. Another win for VCAT.”

“I’m out of breath because I’m so fast… Like I say every time, don’t run from VCAT.”

  • Daytona Beach, Fla. — Cops locate the alleged vehicle from the earlier incident and the pursuit resumes. Det. Lawson: “Earlier in the night, we had a fleeing vehicle from Detective Smith. Using some investigative techniques, we just got notified that that vehicle was back northbound heading toward our city. So what we’re gonna do is being ready…we’re gonna try to get sticks on it prior to him fleeing this time…Officer Jackson, our other K-9 handler working tonight, has eyes on the vehicle, and it’s coming westbound toward us now, so we’ll see what we can do here.” Traffic stop. A male suspect is arrested for alleged fleeing and eluding. A female who appeared to be in the front seat is released with no charges. Cops also gather information about the incident from an Uber driver.

Listen to Sgt. James Maher‘s recap:

Listen to Det. Galbreath briefly interact with the suspect followed by some commentary from Tom Rizzo:

Abrams: “We’ve got back-to-back situations where people fled, and both of the suspects saying they don’t know what the police are talking about. This is the other one in Daytona Beach where they had identified the vehicle and the person with the quite identifiable hat…”

  • Richland County, S.C. — Lt. Chris Blanding and other first responders are on scene of a single-car accident with the vehicle on its side. Lt. Blanding assessment: “Definitely left the interstate at some speed, and she ended up going over the side, flipping over this fence. I don’t know if she’s drunk or driving too fast for conditions, or just wasn’t paying attention, trying to swerve, missing something. She crawled out of the back of the SUV by herself, so she’s in the back of the ambulance getting checked on, and she seems to be all right. But the car’s not fine. That’s a pretty nasty little adventure there.” Lt. Blanding update: “Come to find out she is drunk. It’s unfortunate, driving drunk. Roads are slick, driving drunk by itself, but you’re out here when the roads are slick, this is what’s gonna happen, so fortunately she didn’t hit the pole. And there’s two telephone poles right there off the interstate, and each is probably five feet from this end, so the speed she was going, going sideways, wrapping her vehicle around that, she probably would have been seriously hurt. But, fortunately, even though she did what she did, she walked away with it unhurt, but she’s definitely gonna be going to jail tonight after she visits the hospital…fortunately she didn’t hit anybody.”
  • Clayton County, Ga. — Deps. Leonard and Rob Fleming conduct a traffic stop for a window tint issue. Three occupants. Car search. A gun is found. “I didn’t know it was in there; it’s not mine.” Cops determine that the gun is allegedly stolen. Dep. Fleming: “Somebody’s going to jail tonight.”
  • Berkeley County, S.C. — Multiple deputies, including Cpls. Rogers and Brandon Williams, and cops from a neighboring agency converge on an apartment complex on a report of an armed robbery. They set up a perimeter and search the area, including with the participation of Cpl. Dylan Lee and K9 Nash, for a suspect or suspects who fled on foot. Deputies use a translate app to communicate with the victim.
  • Monroe, La. — Cpl. Jonathon Daniel tries to make contact with a bicyclist who fled into a home. The HEAT squad arrives on scene as backup. The subject is detained after he comes out. Ofr. Serenity Smith obtains permission for cops to enter the home to apparently retrieve a backpack.

Cpl. Daniel recap: “So I saw the guy, he was coming down the street, coming towards us, and he had his lights on. He was just kind of cruising. I was just trying to keep an eye on him, and right as I was getting close to him, we got, we were within about not even 20 feet, and he shot across right in front of me. So I stopped, trying to get out with him, and as soon as he saw me stop, he ran up in this house. Now, this house, we’ve had numerous, numerous run-ins with. It’s always been super cooperative, but it is a known drug house. We’ve found I don’t know how many guns out and around here. People are coming and going all the time, so as soon as I got out with that, I just kind of staged on the side, made sure he wasn’t running out the back.. he stripped. Like, he went inside and stripped, like, those aren’t the clothes that he was wearing. These are his clothes…”

  • Richland County, S.C. — As the On Patrol: Live episode concludes, Cpt. Brown and Dep. Perez conduct a traffic stop at gunpoint in an area that Brown claims is apparently known for drug transactions. Two occupants. One man has a lot of cash in his pocket. Car search. Dep. Perez explains that “So basically, we made contact with them. They started fishing around in the vehicle. That’s the reason why we draw weapons, just to make sure that we were covering ourselves as well. Instead of just hanging in here before they go into the club, basically, there was marijuana in the center console. They got liquor bottles everywhere. They’re unopened and things like that, so they’re just kind of sitting here drinking. Not supposed to be loitering in this area because there’s always the use of narcotic use and things like that. There is a recording studio here, but this recording studio is closed right now, so there’s no reason for them to be here. So we’re just kind of checking the vehicle, clearing them out, making sure they’re good to go and if they have anything else in here.” As a way to reach common ground, Cpt. Brown also takes the time to explains to the men, who are released with no charges, why cops reacted they way they did.

Dep. Perez adds that “So Captain Danny Brown spotted this vehicle in known lovable location that he loves coming to for so much because of narcotic use. So, once we made contact, it seemed like he was reaching around and, of course we’re not comfortable with that situation, and he started to get out of the vehicle. Once we made contact with him and realizing he did have several things in there…marijuana, liquor bottles, things like that. This business is closed. You’re not supposed to loiter in front of a business, but they’ve been pretty cool about things. They [weren’t] hostile in any way…explained everything. They’re not from here. They’re not sure about how Richland does things, but now they do. They’re about to go home. They were gonna to go to the club, but they didn’t want to go to the club anymore. So, they’ll be on their way home now, possibly. I’m just gonna take everything that they had and just confiscate it and destroy it.”

  • Humboldt County, Calif. – Dep. Bonilla and other units respond to a neighbor dispute allegedly involving a possible assault with a soda can and try to mediate the situation and the neighbors stay away from each other “to keep the peace” that LEOs need not return to the location on a similar call. Abrams quips “Go have a Coke and a smile. That’s what they need.” Listen to some of the interaction with the deputies: