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

A recap of the January 25, 2025, On Patrol: Live episode (#OPL 03-50), anchored in the NYC studio by attorney and host Dan Abrams along with co-host Curtis Wilson, analyst Tom Rizzo, and guest analyst Will Armstrong, follows.

 [Best viewed in Google Chrome.] 

For the live segments, #OPNation on social media seemed to react the most to the poignant incident in Berkeley County that opened the show, the Richland County shooting, and two contentious traffic stops in Knox County. Scroll below. As often happens, On Patrol: LIve left the audience hanging on several incidents. Also, audio problems occurred during roughly the first half hour of the show, but were then resolved.

Agency updates: Brookford, N.C., PD and Hazen, Ark., PD, will return to On Patrol: Live as of Friday, January 31. The “big city” police department joining the show is set to be named sometime this week, perhaps on Tuesday. Check back for further developments   [see below] .

During studio panel banter about Arkansas and North Carolina accents — listen below — (Abrams: “One southern accent to another: There’s no sort of crossover?”), Chief Armstrong does a callback to soundalike Bill Clinton:

Note: Click here for the recap of #OPL episode 03-49, January 24, 2025.

Agency updates update: Las Vegas PD is the big city department that is an addition to the roster, which should provide some very interesting content. Separately, Reelz has renewed On Patrol: Live for 90 more episodes through early 2026.

On Patrol: Live Recap for January 25, 2025 (#OPL Episode 03-50)

Please review this important DISCLAIMER.
  • Berkeley County, S.C. — Cpl. Carli Carr makes a traffic stop on a possible disabled car. She questions the driver, an older man who apparently was slumped over and who seems somewhat disoriented, as to whether he has a medical conditions. On Patrol: Live caption: “Possible fentanyl overdose.” She radios for any LEO who has Narcan. Paramedics and backup deputies, including Lt. Paul Yacobozzi, summoned to the scene. Cpl. Carr allegedly spots a baggie in the man’s pocket. Car search. The elderly man apparently declines to be transported to the hospital. Cpl. Carr: “He refused to go with them, so he’s gonna come with us.”

Cpl. Carr initial summary: “I got out with him as a disabled motorist. I actually thought he was having a diabetic episode. But his nose was running, so it was kind of odd to me. But I looked down at him, and I seen this baggie hanging out of his pocket…he said it’s heroin, but it’s brown, but it’s also got a white tint to it, so I’m pretty sure it’s a heroin-fentanyl mix…” Abrams: “So he’s now getting the medical attention that he needs.”

“…saving lives comes first, so I did call Fire and EMS for them to check him out…”

Cpl. Carr further assessment: “So I stopped this, well, I came upon this, what I thought was either a collision or a disabled motorist, but I don’t know, I think he was overdosing. He kind of seems a little shaky right now, a little unsteady. He told me he already did have some heroin, I took what I thought was the only heroin in the vehicle, but one of my partners was searching the car and found a sizable bag of a white, tan, rocky substance that’s probably gonna be a heroin-fentanyl mix. Lieutenant Yacobozzi is on scene, and he knows a little bit more about narcotics and driving, so I think he’s gonna look into the DUI aspect, because he’s impeding the flow of traffic, and he had admitted that he took the dope, and then drove. So I’m gonna to talk to Yac about that, and we’re gonna go from there. But saving lives comes first, so I did call Fire and EMS for them to check him out because I think he was actively overdosing…he’s got like a lot of drug stuff in here…”

Abrams: “Captain Tom Rizzo, when this thing started, you were talking about the fact that in certain circumstances, they won’t charge someone whose overdosing.” Rizzo: “Right, so there’s variations of overdose-prevention laws…that people will be forthcoming with police and first responders without having to fear of a criminal penalty because life-saving comes first. So, on behalf of you, or if you called on behalf of somebody else, there’s no exposure or liability or criminal offense. Abrams: “But now they’ve discovered additional evidence, the driving piece…” Rizzo: “Driving is excluded, as is distribution.”

Commenting on the testing procedure, Cpl. Carr mentions, in part, that “we just got to be really careful with this, because if it is fentanyl, we don’t want to get hurt. This is a lot of fentanyl if it is; it’s probably enough to kill all of Berkeley County…Immediately orange — it’s more fentanyl than it is heroin…he told me it was heroin…”

  • Knox County, Tenn. — Ofr. Zachary Doss makes a traffic stop for allegedly weaving. The outspoken motorist denies crossing the shoulder line several times (“No I didn’t.”) Ofr. Doss: “I watched you do it…it is what it is. You did it. I ain’t gonna make sh*t up. That’s what happened.”

Listen to some of the officer’s interaction with the motorist:

Ofr. Doss summary: “So, like I said, we pulled her over for failure to maintain lane of travel. She decided to have an attitude about it as soon as we got up there and tried calling me a liar. Not a big fan of being told that. She’s probably gonna be getting a ticket tonight. And if it comes back, she don’t have any insurance, we’re also gonna be towing the vehicle.” Abrams: “That’s never a good idea, right? A minor violation, and you call the cop a liar. They’re gonna throw every possible potential, not always, they might throw additional charges at you. We’ll see what happens with the insurance there.”

“That’s never a good idea, right? A minor violation, and you call the cop a liar….”

  • Daytona Beach, Fla. — Lt. Richie Maher heads to a local hospital to investigate a report of a man there with a gunshot wound to the face. Lt. Maher subsequently confirms that the wound was the result of a hunting accident rather than resulting from a crime.

Lt. Maher update: “So the fellow here at the hospital, he did have a single birdshot in his face. He actually came from another county. He was very, very with it…he was laughing and cutting up. Said he was out hunting dove with a buddy, and his buddy accidentally put one bird pellet in his face. I asked him why he came all the way to Volusia County to the hospital, and he said he lives here in Volusia County and had to come home to walk his dogs before he went to the hospital. So he’s gonna live. He’s gonna be fine. He’s in great spirits. The dogs got walked. That’s important. And we’ll reach out to Lake County just make sure there’s nothing uncouth to it. But on the surface of it, looks like there was a bit of a hunting accident, and his buddy got him with a pellet.”

  • Richland County, S.C. — Master Dep. Collins Harper responds to an attempted carjacking but then is called off and re-dispatched to an alleged burglary in progress at a residence. He makes contact with a witness and then detains a subject at the back door of the home. “What I do?” The latter admits to being homeless and claims the house has been abandoned for years. Referring to his difficult upbringing, Chief Armstrong mentions that “most of my life growing up that we were homeless. There’s sometimes not enough help for a situation like that, and that is why sometimes people end up not really wanting to criminally intend to break in and take over, but sometimes there’s no options, I feel like.”
  • Monroe, La. — Ofr. Trey Goins makes a traffic stop for no license plate light. The motorist bailed from the car into a home and is subsequently taken into custody. The driver seems to claim that he ran because he was scared. Ofr. Goins and members of the High Enforcement Apprehension Team (HEAT) obtain consent from the homeowner to search the house after permission was initially declined. Rizzo on the initial refusal: “That’s got to be frustrating. They obviously want to see why he [chose] that house, and he went through it from front to back. Did he discard anything.” Armstrong: “You don’t cooperate, you’re being part of the problem. Probably that simple.”

Ofr. Goins initial synopsis: “…homeowner’s gonna give us consent to search the residence, make sure no guns or illegal narcotics inside of the residence. Like I said, when he jumped out, he was holding his waistband as if he had something like a firearm in his waistband, ran inside, stayed inside approximately two minutes, and then bolted back out the front door as we were setting the perimeter around the residence, which we [were] able to get him in custody. We’re gonna check the residence, make sure nothing is illegal in there, no firearms, anything. They have small kids, so we don’t want them to get a hold of it.” Listen as Ofr. Goins subsequently explains that cops allegedly found a gun and some weed at the location. “He’s definitely going to jail tonight.”

  • Daytona Beach, Fla. — Ofr. Gabriel Marquez among other cops respond to a prowling call. Three subjects are detained, the third at an apartment complex. The trio is arrested for allegedly resisting.
  • Daytona Beach, Fla. (pre-recorded segment) — Ofr. Jonathan Muniz serve a warrant at an apartment complex and detain a man who comes to the door of his unit. “What did I do?”

Listen to Ofr. Muniz’s recap of the arrest:

Humboldt County, Calif. — Dep. Luis Bonilla makes a well-being check on a man who appears to be “dozing off” in his car. Dep. Bonilla asks the motorist “have I made contact with you before?” Abrams then quips “‘Do I know you from somewhere?’ It’s very different when a cop asks that question than someone who asks it at a bar.”

  • Triple Play #2 — An Idaho State Police high-speed pursuit “came to an end thanks to a pit” [Not a PIT].
  • Clayton County, Ga. — Lt. Jonathan Carey initiates a traffic stop on a car with a sign in the window that reads “lost or stolen tag.” Lt. Carey: “So is it lost or stolen? Let’s go find out. It makes no sense.” The driver tells the lieutenant that tag is stolen.
  • Richland County, S.C. — Assisting a neighboring region, Deps. Sloan Simpson and Harper and other units, plus paramedics, respond to a shooting call. A victim is down on the porch of a residence. Dep. Harper applies a tourniquet to the victim’s leg. Abrams: “Again, another example of how police are the first responders no matter what in many cases…you guys have to do a lot of training, right?, in terms of being able to do some basic emergency medical.” Armstrong: “Absolutely; a lot of times, like you said, we’re the first people on the scene, and we have to apply tourniquets, give Narcan. Our responsibilities change, it seems, almost weekly. We’re the first ones there, so we have to train all this kind of stuff, because we’re pretty much their life-saving mechanism before the first responders or EMS medical personnel gets there.” Wilson: “It’s equipment that’s issued to all Richland County deputies, the tourniquet that Harper applied to him, and things of that nature, like you said; we have to be able to save lives, and that’s what we try to do.”

Dep. Harper outlines the results of the investigation thus far, including the recovery of a firearm and a shell casing in the house. “Family problems and ended up with someone getting shot.” Paramedics transport the victim to the hospital.

“We’re the first ones there…we’re pretty much their life-saving mechanism before the first responders or EMS medical personnel gets there.”

In a further update, Abrams claims that “it now seems that there were two women who were fighting, and the victim tried to break it up, and that’s how the victim ended up getting shot…that’s why the two women have been — I don’t know if they’ve been arrested — but they’ve definitely been detained at this point. We should be careful not to say they’ve been arrested,” and Dep. Harper mentions that a stolen firearm allegedly may be involved in the incident. Listen:

“Family problems and ended up with someone getting shot.”

Dep. Harper provides this detailed update for the On Patrol: Live audience about this shooting incident: “So over at that house where we had shooting, we have two young ladies that were getting into a fight. The gentleman that got shot — he was trying to break up a fight when one of the ladies that we detained began to physically assault her or physically assault him. The young lady that was physically assaulting our victim then went into her bedroom and retrieved a firearm at which time she came out of the bedroom, brandished a firearm. He brandished a firearm of his, and she fired off two rounds, one striking our victim in the leg. We applied a tourniquet. Don’t really know completely all of his injuries at that point. I think we got there fast enough and on time where we could be able to apply a tourniquet and be able to do as much life-saving measures as we could. Two pistols were recovered. One was in a mattress, between a mattress and a box spring, in a bedroom, which a young lady stated that was our victim’s that she picked up and moved when we arrived on scene. And the suspect’s weapon was found on the dresser in her bedroom. She said it was her bedroom. So at this point, Crime Scene is there. Homeowners gave consent for them to be able to process the scene, and CID investigators are on scene as well to figure everything out, who’s going to get charged and be responsible for the actions that came through. There was a young child in the house, and it’s just not a way things need to go. So luckily, he was alive when we got there and when we left. I have not heard any updates exactly about him at his time…”

Humboldt County, Calif. — Dep. Bonilla makes a traffic stop. Motorist: “I was on my phone trying to do 20 things at once.” Dep. Bonilla: “Well, you’re not supposed to be on your phone while you’re driving. — oh, you were on your speaker? Okay…”

  • Berkeley County, S.C. — Cpl. Carr conducts a traffic stop for a defective tail light. Three occupants. Alleged odor of weed prompts a probable cause car search. They are subsequently released. One of the occupants is directed to stomp out a blunt. She also jokes that her husband, the “other Corporal Carr,” wanted to stop the vehicle, “but I beat him.”
  • Clinton County, Ga. — Lt. Carey and Dep. Devon Brown race to the scene of a shots-fired report in a residential neighborhood. The possible suspect is a male with a bookbag is the suspect. “It sounds like there’s gonna be a lot of juveniles when we get there, probably gonna be running around.” Dispatch cancels the call for multiple units to respond, however, although there are still about 20-30 kids out and about at the scene who will be told to leave.
  • Daytona Beach, Fla. — Ofr. Marquez and other units respond to a scene where an assailant allegedly knocked out a female at a bar. Fortunately a doctor who was there rendered aid to the woman before first responders arrived. Abrams: “It sounds like she’s very lucky that doctor was right there at that time, because he stopped her from falling and hitting her head after getting hit in the back of the head. But obviously, there’s gonna be dual issues going on here. Number one, is getting EMS there as fast as possible, and then there’s is gonna be the investigative part, trying to find out who the person is who did this.”
  • Daytona Beach, Fla. — Lt. Maher is dispatched to a call about an alleged fight between a male and a female.
  • Knox County, Tenn. — Deputies investigate a two-car accident with substantial front-end damage to the vehicles, one of which was allegedly being repoed, and with debris all over the road. Abrams asks Chief Armstrong how investigators determine who is at fault in an accident. Armstrong: “So when it comes to collisions, we’re looking for specific things. We’re looking for the area of impact to see where the car is actually made or where they struck. We’re also looking for like distinguished marks in the road. We’re looking for braking distance. We’re looking for those kind of things. That’s what we have to go off of when we don’t have a witness in play. And a lot of times, we just hope that we get a witness or that somebody is gonna be honest. But in this case, you can see that there’s some back and forth.” Abrams: “Yeah, and one of the things, Captain Rizzo, I would think that they’d be able to determine is the guy says, one of them says, he’s going straight, other person says making a turn. I would think that’s the sort of thing that the tire track could help determine.” Rizzo: “Who had the right of way. Of course.” Armstrong: “And you can tell that somebody left their lane by the impact that you can see, and that’s what they try to do.” Abrams: “And Curtis, they’ll try and see if there are any cameras around too, right?” Wilson: “Most definitely. In that area with all those stores, somebody’s got a camera.”
  • Monroe, La. — Cpl. Kelsie Wilson conducts a traffic stop with Cpl. Jason Hendriz as backup. The driver is Mirandized. Wilson: “Why you so serious, man? When you handed me your license, your hands were shaking…” Drugs allegedly found in car search. Abrams: “That could explain why he seemed a bit nervous at the beginning of the traffic stop.”
  • Knox County, Tenn — Ofr. Doss is re-dispatched to assist other cops on a pursuit. Ofr. John Longendorf, who apparently uses the radio call sign Adam-12, pulls over the car. “You accelerated to an excessive rate of speed in order to beat that light, so what’s the rush tonight?” The motorist also claims that she was initially unaware that her vehicle was lit up. During the conversation with Ofr. Longendorf, the driver, among other things, mentions that she was working at a hotel laying pipe. Citation issued.

Listen to some of the interaction between a skeptical Ofr. Longendorf and the driver followed by some mischievous studio panel comments (Rizzo: “A lot of people lay pipe at hotels.” Abrams: “This is true. And then don’t remember”).

  • Triple Play #3 — A Berkley, Mich., pursuit, “and this one ‘hits close to home.'”
  • Daytona Beach, Fla. — Ofr. Marquez initiates a traffic stop at a gas station for alleged failure to use signals. Lt. Maher on scene as back up. Five occupants. Car search. Some weed allegedly found. Abrams: “So looks like they maybe they just find a little bit of marijuana, and these folks will be on their way.”
  • Humboldt County, Calif. (pre-recorded segment)– Cpl. Kellen Brown and other units respond to a report of disturbance allegedly involving someone vandalizing a vehicle. Subject: “Everyone knows I’m a meth head.” Cpl. Brown explains that it wasn’t actually vandalism on a vehicle: “There [were] two people who were involved in a physical fight. He’s got a warrant for driving on a suspended license and possession of methamphetamine. And he’s currently in possession of methamphetamine. So I think he said everyone knows I use meth. And I think he’s high on methamphetamine right now. He’s sweating profusely and it’s 52 degrees out here. Everything he’s presenting tells me that he’s under the influence of methamphetamine.” When the subject asks about his alleged bag of drugs, the LEO informs him that “we’re taking your bag of drugs” and “we’re going to book it for evidence.” When the man asks what he’s being arrested for, the LEO informs him that “you’re being arrested right man for your warrants and possession of methamphetamine.”
  • Richland County, S.C. — Dep. Simpson, K9 Specialist John O’Shaughnessy, and othe units respond to an incident involving a subject who allegedly may have run from a traffic stop that may have been prompted by reckless driving. Cops locate an abandoned and still-warm vehicle at a hotel and subsequently detain a subject. On Patrol: Live caption: “Suspect in custody.” Deputies also interact with some other men on scene who might have been passengers or friends.

Dep. Simpson recap: “[Another deputy] witnessed this man right out here…driving in a reckless manner. The way he saw him driving, he had suspicion that may be driving under the influence. So he tried to catch up to him. They pulled into this parking spot and jumped out real quick. He did go ahead and detain the driver. Right now, the driver’s refusing to provide us any information or answer any questions. He’s saying that he’s a sovereign citizen and does not answer any questions. So at this point, we are gonna get some video camera footage just to confirm that he was the one driving the vehicle. And if we have to, we’ll arrest him and enter into the jail as John Doe. And he’ll be there until he decides to identify himself.” Abrams: “Ah — the old sovereign citizen argument. The ‘your laws don’t apply to me.’ It is never an effective defense, but they still try.” Cops are subsequently able to identify the man and arrest him for alleged reckless driving. Abrams: “So the sovereign citizen ‘I don’t have to identify myself’ defense did not work.”

“So the sovereign citizen ‘I don’t have to identify myself’ defense did not work.”

  • Monroe, La. — Ofr. Goins provides backup on a traffic stop. An apparently vocal bystander is repeatedly told to “go to the club or leave.” The latter ends up getting detained but is subsequently released.