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

An On Patrol: Live recap, including NYC studio host Dan Abrams’ puns, analysis, and banter with co-anchor Curtis Wilson (a Richland County, S.C., deputy sheriff), along with the often-snarky or playful social media reaction, follows.

Cpt. Tom Rizzo (Howell Township, N.J, P.D.), the all-but-permanent replacement for Sean Larkin, is again in the studio as this weekend’s guest analyst.

Although OPL has used a rotating group of guest analysts in the absence of Larkin, it makes sense for Rizzo to get the job permanently. He brings a lot of practical insight to the commentary. Plus, OPL doesn’t have to be concerned with travel arrangements for out-of-area cops, particularly in the context of flight delays, and all the producers have to provide Rizzo, obviously apart from pay, is perhaps hotel accommodations for Friday night.

In this edition of the show, and for what it’s worth, Dep. Wilson and Cpt. Rizzo switch positions such that the former is in the second chair, which is usually the spot for the guest analyst.

Note that when cops release a motorist with a warning, they typically first run the driver’s license to make sure it’s valid.

For background information about On Patrol: Live (i.e., Live PD 2.0), that airs on the Reelz channel (which is available on the Peacock and FreeCast streaming services), click here.

Please review this important DISCLAIMER.

Here are some updates from last weekend’s episodes:

On Patrol: Live Summary for June 7, 2024 (#OPL Episode 02-81)

  • Richland County, S.C. — While heading back to his squad car after a call at an apartment complex, Master Dep. Avery Arrington responds to an alleged domestic assault. He detains a male. He applies a tourniquet to the arm of a female who is bleeding. OPL host Dan Abrams update: “The woman at the beginning of the show where you could see that she was bleeding. She’s been taken to the hospital. She was treated both at the scene and now at the hospital. The guy there was charged with assault. There could be other charges there as well.”
  • Daytona Beach, Fla. — Dets. Maycon MacDowel and Noah Galbreath, along with other units, converge on a home in connection with a felony warrant. There is back-and-forth dialogue while the subject behind a fence is initially unwilling to come out of the home. He also wants to know the specific property that a burglary is alleged to have been committed. The man is subsequently taken into custody.

Det. MacDowell recap: “This gentleman has a warrant for burglary. Last night, he ran from the cops. Today again, we made contact, told him to come outside. We explained to him that he had a warrant. He said, ‘no, I’m not coming out.’ Then we were able to find out that this address, this shop, belongs to him. So that’s his address…So we came through and picked him up. He’s under arrest now. Probably gonna catch another charge for resisting…a lot of people think that resisting just means you just run away from the cops. But if the cops gave like multiple orders to come outside, explain to you everything, tell him multiple times to come outside, and he still refused to come outside, after we explained everything, telling him everything that we knew, then you’re gonna catch another charge. So there you have it. In the beginning, we didn’t make entry because we thought this was somebody else’s shop until we found out…that it was his shop. He owned this whole thing, and he got a warrant, then we have the right to come on the property and pick him up, and that’s what we did tonight.”

“…a lot of people think that resisting just means you just run away from the cops…”

Abrams: “As we were watching this happen, Captain Rizzo, you were talking about the kind of warrant and the scope of it.” Guest studio analyst Tom Rizzo: “Sure. So a felony arrest warrant would give the police the authority to enter the premises of the person listed on that warrant. So many people think it’s like a cat-and-mouse game. It’s not. They would have the authority to forcefully enter that property.” Abrams: “Don’t need a search warrant.” Rizzo: “Absolutely not. It’s his place. So he could play the cat-and-mouse game, and those guys showed very much professional restraint that way in using their skills, but they could have easily went onto that property to effectuate an arrest for certain.” OPL co-host Dep. Curtis Wilson: “Especially after the positive ID. They knew that was the guy, so therefore they were able to get him.”

  • Toledo, Ohio — Ofrs. Lindsey Erhart and Brooke Janowiecki, plus at least one other cop, respond to a report of an aggressive dog on the deck of a home. The dog warden is called to the scene; he uses treats to establish trust with the canine, who does not appear aggressive. OPL caption: “Doggy detained.” Rizzo: “Any police officer would attest, somebody else to deal with that — go right ahead.”
  • Fontana, Calif. — Along with his colleagues, Ofr. Samuel Saenz responds to a report that a citizen found human bones or remains. The remains are in a paper towel. Detectives will take over the investigation.

Ofr. Saenz summary: “So apparently she found it in this field right here….the reporting party had just left. I’m not sure where she had to go, but my sergeant advised that she was metal detecting out in this field right here, and that’s when she came across the remains. Apparently she went to a chiropractor to further evaluate it, and the chiropractor is the one who told her that they were human remains, and you need to contact the police. So that’s where we’re at right now with the investigation, and…the detective bureau is gonna have to come out here and further investigate.”

Abrams: “So that makes it a little more interesting. because initially you just think, oh they found some bones, and they got to call someone in, but actually she brought it to someone. Curtis, you were saying that in Richland County, there’s a specific protocol that would be employed here.” Wilson: “That’s what we do — we secure the area, then we call the coroner’s office. Let the anthropologist come out…to determine whether or not they were animal or human. And that way we’ll know where we’re going from there.” Abrams: “Because it’s tough for an officer, just who’s there, to be able to assess with that, right?” Rizzo: “With bone fragments, sure. But we’ve had cases before with skulls, partial skulls, those types of things, where you could say this certainly looks to be human. But then that’s just when the story starts. Now we have to go backward to see if there were suspicious circumstances surrounding it.”

  • Berkeley County, S.C. (pre-recorded segment) — Cpl. Mikayla Ortiz pursues subjects who foot-bailed from a truck that wouldn’t pull over. The passenger is detained at gunpoint after a foot pursuit. Drugs and guns allegedly found. “He dropped two guns.” The driver is still at large.

Cpl. Ortiz summary: “Unfortunately, due to heavy foot traffic here in the neighborhood, K9 Odin wasn’t able to acquire a track, but we were able to make contact with the owner of the vehicle. He confirmed that it was his son driving the truck, and an added bonus is he has Life360 on his son’s phone, so they have him at an address not too far from here, and they’re gonna to try to pick him up on his charges as well. It looks like right now his charges is gonna be a failure stop for blue lights and sirens, and we’ll see if he’s gonna make claim to any of these things up here as well.”

Abrams: “Captain Tom Rizzo, as we were watching that, you were saying that she had to make a split-second decision there.” Rizzo: “Instead of developing a reasonable belief that somebody would be armed and dangerous, she sees it happen in front of her. She’s got to act — she’s got to act quick. What we were discussing is she’s got to be very cognizant of an ambush scenario. There’s another person in play. So she has somebody that was armed with firearms, still armed with a firearm; she’s got to have her head on a swivel and that’s what she was covering was two things at once. Talk about multitasking for a life-saving measure. That’s pretty much where it’s at.” Wilson: “Also on top of that, typically when you’re pulling over a vehicle, you’re pulling over for the driver because that’s who you’re gonna go after. But with her seeing this guy come out with the weapons…have to switch and go after this guy. And, of course, the Draco is like an AK-47 style weapon, which is pretty dangerous.”

  • Berkeley County, S.C. — Cpl. Brandon Williams responds to a dispute about a phone at a residence. An older man who appears to have a laceration to his cheek just wants his SIM card returned. He indicates he is not sure about pressing charges against the other party (possibly his wife or girlfriend). Cpl. Williams intends to get the latter’s side of the story.
  • Indian River County, Fla. (pre-recorded segment) — Dep. Daniel Deighan and other units conduct a traffic stop for allegedly not coming to a complete stop at a stop sign. Two occupants. Abrams: “A passenger had a kind of an unorthodox way of showing he wasn’t hiding anything in his pants.” Deputy to occupant: “Why you so nervous man?”

“Why you so nervous man?”

Deputy Deighan recap: “I have a history with the driver, pulled him over in the same car, and he didn’t have a license then. I gave him a break. Didn’t write him any tickets; last time he had a valid license, valid Florida license, was in 2001. He got off scot-free. We’ve given him a chance before. Today those chances are done so he’s going to be placed under arrest…passenger is very, very nervous. We don’t have anything to hold him up here any longer. At this point, we just got to cut him loose, but I still got a feeling like something just isn’t checking out right with the passenger.” Abrams: “I’m gonna to admit that as that was happening, I was looking away. As he was beginning the process, I’m like, uh, and I caught myself. And then the camera moved…” Wilson: “I talk about moves, but that’s one I definitely did not want to have to talk about.” Rizzo: “Yeah, when people search themselves, right? Sincerely I say this, that you’ll see officers want to control that scene when people try to exit a vehicle without being prompted. We want people to stay in the vehicle so that we can have control for safety reasons for that as well, if you notice that.”

  • Indian River County, Fla. — Cpl. James Ooley administers field sobriety testing on a motorist who says she had consumed two Cosmos at a house party. The driver is subsequently arrested for alleged DUI.
  • Richland County, S.C. — Dep. Matt Smith conducts a traffic stop on a pick-up truck that was swerving. The driver tells the deputy that he accidentally spilled ice on himself and will probably be released with a warning.
  • Fontana, Calif. (pre-recorded segment) — Ofr Joe Richard and other units locate an alleged stolen van outside a residence. The driver, who is initially non-compliant, is detained. He asks, “You do this for a stolen van?” The driver also says the van belongs to his boss. “What’s your boss’s name.” Driver: “I don’t know.” After an investigation, the driver is arrested, and the boss is coming to the location to recover the van.

“You do this for a stolen van?”

  • Indian River County, Fla. — Dep. Jon Lozada and a colleague investigate a report of illegal gambling, They knock on the door of a location, but no one answers. They then go to local motel looking for a possible or alleged suspect who, according to Abrams, is allegedly “the person behind the operation.” Desk clerk to deputies: “You’re describing someone…we call him Santa Claus.” Lozada and his colleague make contact and wind up detaining the suspect and his brother who are in staying adjoining motel rooms. Abrams: “Let’s hope it’s more than bingo.”

“…we call him Santa Claus.”

Dep. Lozada synopsis of an investigation that may have changed course: “The one that’s been detained stays in this first room. Deputy Baumann made contact with him; he invited her in, and upon her entering she observed some drug paraphernalia in plain view. So she ended up detaining him for a narcotics investigation at that point. And now we have passed the brother who’s in the next room over, even though they’re connected, to step out as well. And he’s allowed her to go inside as well. So we’re gonna kind of treat this as a narcotics investigation. It’s very foggy and smoky in there, so we don’t know if he was smoking narcotics or cigarettes. It doesn’t smell like cigarettes, but we’re gonna treat it kind of very cautiously because we don’t know what’s in the air right now. So that’s what we’ve got going on right now, and we’re just kind of still investigating.” Dep. Lozada subsequently adds that “So we discovered more paraphernalia in the brother’s room. He’s been detained as well. Deputy Baumann’s now interviewing the first suspect, who…has admitted that he was smoking some crack in the room. He also admitted that there’s a couple more crack rocks or pieces on the dresser in there, so we’ll most likely go in and recover those. We’re, again, trying to tread a little light because it’s still in the air, and we don’t want to breathe that too much and get exposed to that. So he’s talking to her privately, so we’ll let them do that, and we’ll wait to see when we can recover the evidence.”

  • Triple Play #1 — Moore, Okla., pursuit of an alleged stolen vehicle. The driver faces an array of charges. The cop who crashed through the fence during the foot chase later returns to the location to personally help with the repairs.
  • Toledo, Ohio — Ofrs. Mike Gee and Chris Mulinix respond to a report of someone outside a home with a gun. OPL caption: “Report of gun threat.” Ofr. Gee: “So we’re trying to check the area for the victim. She said she’s at this intersection, so we’re looking for her vehicle. We’ve got another crew looking, too. So far, it sounds like all we have right now is…menacing because the male threatened the female, saying that he’s gonna shoot at the house. But unless we find that victim, unfortunately, we don’t have a report on it because we don’t know who she is or who he is. So we’re gonna continue to look for the female half.”

Ofr. Gee follow-up: “She said she just got home from work. Her kids were outside. Her daughter was when her ex-boyfriend showed up and was looking for her soon-to-be ex-husband. I guess her ex-boyfriend was saying that he’s gonna shoot up the house looking for the ex-boyfriend…or the ex-husband — too many exes here. And then he took off. So we’re gonna document tonight’s incident as an aggravated menacing report. Then she can follow up at a later time, try to press charges against him, and then get a protection order against that guy so it protects her and her kids. But we’ll document, and we’ll head on to the next call.”

  • Richland County, S.C. — Dep. Arrington and other units conduct a traffic stop. Open container allegedly spotted. The car apparently has a dealer tag and allegedly has no insurance and smells of weed. The driver allegedly had weed in her pants. She also talks to the OPL cameras and mentions that her dad owns a car dealership.
  • Daytona Beach, Fla. — Lt. Richie Maher, Ofr. Thomas Goble, and other units respond to a car accident. Field sobriety testing administered; a driver is arrested for alleged DUI. Abrams: “We’ve seen a number of these DUI instances tonight, and they are deadly serious.” Rizzo: “And people don’t realize, too, sometimes more than just the motor vehicle part of it, they’ll add the criminal charges for the assault with the auto. So the auto will be the weapon for that assault.”
  • Daytona Beach, Fla. — Det. MacDowel conducts a traffic stop for a non-functioning brake light. The driver, who is initially argumentative, is released with a warning. MacDowel: “Doing the traffic stop; brake light, passenger side, it’s out; actually it’s a white light that comes on. Sometimes people just won’t let you talk — you’re trying to explain. Our job is to come up to the window…explain to you the reason why you’re getting pulled over. Sometimes, as soon as you get to the window, people are just yelling and ask you all kind of questions, but that’s my job. I’m gonna explain to you why we’re pulling you over.”

“Sometimes, as soon as you get to the window, people are just yelling…”

  • Robeson County, N.C. — Dep. Zach Dowless and First Sgt. Branston Collins conduct a traffic stop on a driver wearing a “Damn” T-shirt and some headgear. Cpt. Rizzo: “I think he’s a Knight.” The driver is released with a warning. Sgt. Collins: “He didn’t have an ID on him, but he did have a work ID. Got his name, date of birth. Ran his information in one of my systems. He was clear on warrants. His driver’s license…suspended. I let him go with a warning tonight. The vehicle’s registration had just died, May 31st. So I advised him that he’s gonna have to sit there and have somebody with a driver’s license come and pick him up, and not get back in the vehicle and drive. I did let him go with just a verbal warning.”
  • Berkeley County, S.C. — Cpl. Williams conducts a traffic stop for failure to maintain lane and no license plate light. The driver mentions that “I don’t do drugs.” He is released with no charges.
  • BOLO segment — Leesburg, Fla, murder suspect.
  • Daytona Beach, Fla. — Det. MacDowel conducts a traffic stop. “Your tint is so damn dark.” The detective doesn’t continue the stop because the motorist is already parked in his driveway.
  • Fontana, Calif. — Ofr. Saenz makes contact with a pedestrian who indicates she is not diabetic: “I have a drug problem.”
  • Daytona Beach, Fla. — Ofr. Goble provides back up as VCAT detains a man who is subject to a warrant. The man, who allegedly has run from police before, is irate during the pat down: “You felt up my balls.” Heavy bleeping. The man asks Det. Galbreath, “are you stereotyping me?” Galbreath: “You’re a criminal.” Det. MacDowell explains that “hopefully, he calms down. We’re gonna get the wagon here; we’re gonna put him inside the wagon so he doesn’t break, cause any damage, to the police patrol car. He kind of calmed down a little bit right now, but you never know what you’re gonna get…so he’s mad that…Detective Smith did a through search…”
  • Richland County, S.C. — Dep. Arrington along with a large group of cops, plus a K9, extensively search an area in and around an apartment complex in connection with a hostage allegedly held at gunpoint by a boyfriend. Dep. Arrington indicates that the victim was allegedly pistol-whipped in the face, and the suspect fled on foot in the area.

Abrams: “So they now have the victim there. Sounds like she may have been pistol whipped here, and they also have a pretty good idea of where the suspect is, but you were talking, Captain Rizzo, about the way that they’re clearing these areas out.” Rizzo: “It’s like a hasty clearing, so we’re not gonna give up what we clear, so by that I mean a stairwell, a hallway, a door. We’re gonna hold that and then make sure, so that’s gonna be like a systematic clearing, but you’ve got to be hasty though, because you know you have somebody allegedly armed with a weapon…already committed a violent assault, so they have to go ahead and make sure that there’s not somebody has a hostage, so you don’t know if he’s gonna take another person, so that’s a hasty clearing. You take what you can and you hold it.”

Listen to Dep. Arrington describe the next steps:

Dep. Arrington adds that “Last time we seen him, he went towards building 13. Me and [another deputy] chased him into that building. We don’t know where he went after that…a lot…of big apartments up there, so he could be in any one of those. And she’s saying that he’s in an up-top apartment with his buddies, and they won’t let us in. So, we don’t know anything yet.” Abrams: “So, Curtis, we heard the guy who’s right back there in the back asking for information from the others. You were explaining why.” Wilson: “Basically, when a canine gets there, they want to know the point of the last location this individual was, so that they can set their dog out at that point and get a fresh track. He doesn’t want to hear all of the other areas that this guy was at. He just wants to know that last point.” Abrams: “He’s a k9 officer.” Wilson: “Absolutely.” Abrams: “You can tell the officers here are getting a little frustrated because they feel like they’re so close to getting him, but not quite there yet.” Wilson: “They have a picture, so [what] they’re gonna do is circulate that picture among all those deputies in that area so they have at least facial recognition of who this guy is.” The subject is still at large as OPL goes off the air.

  • Daytona Beach, Fla. — Ofr. Goble provides backup to VCAT on a motorcycle stop. Two guns allegedly found.
  • Daytona Beach, Fla. — Cops investigate at the scene of shots fired into an apartment complex unit. Ofr. Goble, who was re-dispatched from the previous call, explains that “We have the broken window here. Detective Galbreath advising that’s most likely gonna be a BB. There were people inside of the residence, so there’s a chance that they could still be looking at possible charges for launching a deadly missile into an occupied structure or dwelling. Patrol officers are gonna come out and get statements from them. We’ve got security that works down here that’s gonna check video footage for us, and then we’ll see what other information we can get while we’re out here.”
  • Indian River County, Fla. — Dep. Lozada responds to an alarm at a mall, and searches the premises, including stores that are closed or vacant.
  • Berkeley County, S.C. — Sgt. Paul Yacobozzi assists other deputies at a traffic stop at a gas station. The sergeant quips that “they’re going fishing, but they got shrimp in the pallet. I’m not sure how you go fishing and bring the fish with you…” Abrams: “You might want different kinds of fish.” Deputies field test a substance: “It’s a boy.” Two of three occupants, whim Sgt. Yacobozzi has a friendly conversation, will apparently be released with no charges. Abrams: “It seems like there is a third person here who’s already been detained on this stop.”

“It’s a boy.”

  • Lee County, Fla. — Dep. Lawrence Bermudez conducts a traffic stop for alleged reckless driving possibly involved street racing. The driver is arrested for reckless driving; his car is towed after it is inventoried. Dep. Bermudez: “Street racing, intersection takeovers, doing donuts at an intersection, hazardous. Someone speeds up, crashes, kills somebody — obviously, that’s an issue. At this point, he’s gonna learn a very hard lesson.” Abrams: “I assume it is not a defense that today is National Donut Day.” Rizzo: “Not for that type of donut…”
CLICK HERE for the OPL 02-82, June 8, 2024, recap.
CLICK HERE for information about the pending OPL lawsuit.