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

A recap of the March 16, 2024, On Patrol: Live episode (OPL #02-60) appears below.

[NOTE: Click here for the OPL #02-59, March 15, 2024, recap.]

Please review this important DISCLAIMER.

On Patrol: Live Summary for March 16, 2024 (#OPL Episode 02-60)

  • Berkeley County, S.C. — Cpls. Carli Drayton and Devonte Carr, Sgt. Paul Yacobozzi, and other officers assist in the pursuit of a an alleged hit-and-run vehicle. Cops drag the driver out of the car and take her into custody. Weed allegedly found in the vehicle.

Sgt, Yacobozzi summary: “Right now, we got the suspect in custody. We pulled up; we were able to… extract her from the vehicle. She’s extremely impaired. Slurred speech, clothes are falling off, not normal behavior. I don’t know the status of the pedestrian’s injuries right now. As of right now, it sounds like if highway patrol has the felony hit-and-run charges. We’re gonna talk to them, confer with them, if they want to handle the DUI part. If not, we’ll handle that. But at a minimum, she’s facing a failure to stop for blue lights from us for running. We’re gonna look at the car. Luckily, we didn’t have to PIT anybody tonight because I’m in a brand-new car. So that’s a plus. But right now, she’s gonna be going to jail. We’re gonna check on the pedestrian, continue our investigation. Dan Abrams: “Now we may know why Sergeant Yacobozzi kept asking who has the oldest vehicle. He didn’t want to mess up his new car!” Cpl. Carr adds that she may face another charge for damaging government property because she’s in the back of the police car allegedly “kicking and trying to damage the vehicle.”

https://twitter.com/OPNATIONFan/status/1769169565873820127

Sgt. Yacobozzi further update: “Right now, we’re gonna standby. Highway [patrol] is clearing up the scene. Their supervisor is going to the scene to kind of look at it and figure out the appropriate charges. She’s extremely combative; she’s kicking our cars, hitting her head off the window. So for her safety, and the officers’ safety, we’re gonna get her up to the jail, get her lodged up there, and highway patrol can continue the investigation up there. We’re not gonna try to take her out of the handcuffs or anything until she gets to the jail and is…confined because it becomes a danger to everybody, including herself. We’re just gonna standby…we just had the clean-up crew out here cleaning; she’s catching a littering ticket. That’s the least of her worries, but keep South Carolina beautiful.” Abrams: “Obviously, this started as a hit and run, and it became a pursuit. And they say that she certainly appears impaired. So, of course, the littering charge, the least of her worries there.”

  • Hazen, Ark. — Chief Bradley Taylor, Sgt. Clayton Dillion, and officers have a friendly, jovial interaction with a driver at a traffic stop. Caption: “Tow jam?”
  • Coweta County, Ga. — Dep. Myles Moran conducts a traffic stop on a truck for a tag light issue. Provided his license is valid, the driver is to be released with a warning.
  • Fontana, Calif. — Ofr. Brian Zozaya investigates a disturbance. Caption: “Report of a knife threat.” Ofr. Zozaya explains that the “basic information is some sort of argument took place inside the Little Caesars over money — the subject asking them for money. So right now, what our partner is gonna do is they’re gonna drive the victim down to where they detained the suspect, and then they’re gonna make an identification of him.” One man detained. “We ran the suspect’s name, and he has a no-bail warrant.” Ofr. Zozaya explains that “so aside from the crime that he committed today, he’s gonna also be going to jail for his no-bail warrant. So when it comes to no-bail warrants, there’s no bail amount, so they do have to go to jail. They do have to appear before a judge before they can be released or given a new court date for their violation.” Studio co-host Dep. Curtis Wilson alludes to the possibility of an additional charge because “you can’t threaten a public official.” Guest studio analyst Cpt. Tom Rizzo: “Why would you do that? The show’s over. I don’t understand. Just go with the flow.”
  • Indian River County, Fla. (pre-recorded segment) — Dep. Alec Munni gathers information from two store employees in connection with a shoplifting call at Dollar General. The suspect is located and detained in the tall grass nearby. The suspect is initially crying but then become argumentative. Dep. Munni summary: “Maybe she’s under the influence of something. It looks like she has a history of going to jail for trespassing and disturbances. So hopefully, we’ll give her some time to just breathe and calm down, and maybe she’ll talk to us.” Munni subsequently adds that “so we have this female, for sure, for battery. When she pushed the employee, she pushed her into the chemical shelf when she was approached about shoplifting. And then when she ran out of the store, she didn’t even wait for the automatic door to open. She just pushed it open. So she’s going to jail for battery and criminal mischief.”

Abrams: “I think it’s just worth remembering that this assistant manager at this store is going to work, working hard, and then ending up getting thrown up against shelves while she’s at work that day. Putting aside the legal and police side of that, there’s also a human side that you can see from her that she’s understandably both scared and angry.” Rizzo: “No doubt. And we’re fortunate, right? We get supported. These are the unsung heroes. They’re not trained; they don’t have any type of advanced experience in doing this. It’s something that we’ve done for years…” Abrams: “She’s just trying to do the right thing.” Wilson: Just trying to do her job.” Rizzo: “And you get traumatized for stuff like that…”

  • Berkeley County, S.C. — Cp. Drayton conducts a traffic stop in response to a road rage call and a BOLO for a particular vehicle. The driver is fan of the corporal and OPL. It turns out that the call was a misunderstanding but had something to do with the driver twice getting cut off by another motorist.
  • Daytona Beach, Fla. — Ofr. Carlos Queliz detains a man (“What did I do?) who suddenly runs off. Cops detain him again after a foot pursuit. The subject allegedly has a child-support warrant. Abrams: “It’s a reminder that as an officer, you don’t know what’s gonna happen. This is why they have protocols. This is why a lot of times, you’ve got to assume the worst.” Rizzo: “Sure, and that’s that critical fight-or-flight moment, right? And when hands go on, that’s when you might see some tense behavior. Some language, some strong language, whatever.” Abrams: “But this guy was being totally cool. He’s like, ‘yes, sir. I just want to know what’s going on,’ and et cetera.” Wilson: “But the telltale signs on this one was this guy kept asking, and he was trying to be polite about it. Like ‘what did I do, sir. Tell me what I did, my friend.'”

Ofr. Queliz summary: “So I stopped this man for a pedestrian violation. He was walking in the middle of the road. I asked him for his name. He provided me a name, and it didn’t come back. I went to detain him. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my cuffs…so I had to get my second pair of cuffs. And when I went to reach for my second pair of cuffs…he pushed off and ran. He ran westbound…then circled around the house. There was a…playhouse. He threw it in front of me…he jumped the fence…but I was able to run around the fence and make contact with him. As he came around the corner, he fell. And then as he tried to get up and push him back down to the ground. Fortunately, I’m not hurt. He’s not hurt…Now we just have resisting an officer, and we’re gonna find out why his name didn’t come back.” Abrams: “And this is one of those situations where the most serious charge he’s facing could end up being the fleeing.”

  • Indian River County, Fla. — Deputy Mike Ruiz, with Dep. Tony Le on the scene, conducts field sobriety testing on a motorist. “I’m not believing the one-beer thing.” The driver is subsequently arrested on suspicion of DUI.

Abrams: “This is a little bit of a different kind of field sobriety test that we’ve seen before.” Rizzo: “Sure. And different suspicions. So if you suspect alcohol impairment compared to an impairment because of a narcotic or prescription medication, there’s different tests for the eyes, specifically for nystagmus and smooth pursuit of the pupils, and everything like that.” Abrams: “And this was for narcotics?” Rizzo: “It certainly seems like it.”

  • Indian River County, Fla. — Dep. Le is re-dispatched to assist on a fleeing vehicle call. The vehicle in question apparently turns out to be a dirt bike which alleged fled from a traffic stop. The bike crashes out. Dep. Le arrives to find the subject on the ground with injuries. Paramedics summoned to the scene.

Dep. Le summary: “So, I guess the deputy was driving down the road here, saw the dirt bike traveling on the road here at a decent rate of speed, running stop signs. The deputy pulled out behind him, tried catching up to him, activated his emergency lights. Dirt bike then took off, had no lights or anything on it. Dirt bike eventually went off road. Since he didn’t have any lights, he hit a bunch of construction equipment on the side of the road. There’s some pipes; things like that. Crashed out and sent him airborne. I think his leg probably hit one of those pipes on the ground. Looks like he hurt his left leg, and his knee’s pretty bad off as well. At this point, most likely aggravated fleeing, which is a felony. I don’t think he has a driver’s license as well, so no DL. And due to his injuries, they’ll probably just write a warrant for his arrest because he’s probably [going to] stay in the hospital for quite a while. And have the bike towed and put out a warrant out for his arrest pending his clearance from the hospital. We’ll take him to jail after that.”

  • Daytona Beach, Fla. — Ofr. Tim Jackson and K9 Mako search a residential neighborhood on a report of a home invasion.
  • Fontana, Calif. — Just checking if everything is okay, Ofr. Zachary Bloom makes friendly contact with a driver at a gas station whose car had activated its hazard lights. It turns out that the car was nearly out of gas and managed to coast into the gas station.
  • Richland County, S.C. — Sgt. Bryce Hughes and Master Dep. Addy Perez spot two horseman on the road, one who is walking a horse and the other who is riding. Sgt. Hughes asks the latter if they can pet the horse (named King George), which they do in a nearby mall parking lot. Caption: “Equine go bragh.” Dep. Perez quips to bystanders that “We’re not arresting; we’re just petting.” Abrams: “That’s an old-school way to go get groceries.” Dep. Wilson mentions that there is a big St. Patrick’s Day event in that area.
  • Hazen, Ark. — Chief Taylor and colleagues pursue a vehicle on I-40 following an alleged attempted traffic stop. The vehicle flips over and lands in the median. The officers approach with guns drawn and then manage to safely pull the two occupants out of the vehicle. Both men, who are detained, appear to be unharmed. A large amount of cash allegedly found in the vehicle. Miranda warning issued. During the interaction with the driver, Chief Taylor implies that unlike procedures in Memphis, “we will chase you, we will catch you, and you will be going to jail for a felony.” Abrams alludes to the possibility that the car is a rental: “Hope the girlfriend got the loss-damage waiver.”
https://twitter.com/OPNATIONFan/status/1769191812567114145
https://twitter.com/Challenger6010/status/1769191781973799085

Chief Taylor: “…They were reaching speeds of 140 miles an hour, blacked out with their headlights out, passing people in the median, on the shoulder…Officer Middleton went ahead and TVI’ed. They lost control once he TVI’ed — rolled over…He’s gonna figure out it’s not okay to run in Arkansas. They’re both fine. The passenger’s told us two or three names so far. The car smells like marijuana. They both a got large sum of money on them. When the wrecker gets here, we’ll flip it over and see if they got anything in the car. There’s a holster in the car, too, so there’s probably gonna be a gun in there.”

Deputy Wilson explains that TVI is a Tactical Vehicle Intervention, similar to a PIT maneuver, to get the vehicle to stop. Abrams: “Wow, and they were going at high speeds. Not every department can do that.”

Abrams: “One of the things we saw there was a combination of rescue and law enforcement at the same time…” Rizzo: “So it’s law enforcement vs. life-saving. And having to do both of those simultaneously while covering for each other…communication is key on that so the roles are established and the job gets done and the lives are preserved.” Wilson: “Speaking about preserved, they also have to preserve anything that may have been in that vehicle, like collecting that money. And once they get the wrecker there, lift it up just a little bit so they can search and make sure the chain of custody is good with this.” Abrams: “That was a lot of money there…”

  • Toledo, Ohio — Ofrs. Heath Smith and Austin Bly canvas the area for evidence upon a shots-fired call.
  • Triple Play #2 — Pensacola, Fla.
  • Lee County, Fla. — Dep. Ryan Lineberger attempts a traffic stop on a motorcycle before cancelling the chase. He explains why: “So just had a motorcycle take off from us. He tried to do a traffic stop for following too closely, and he also had an improperly mounted tag on the back of his vehicle. Our pursuit policy says that we are to chase for only forceful felonies. So it is a danger to the public to be in a pursuit. It’s a very dangerous situation to be in for law enforcement. We have plenty of law enforcement officers that have been killed in pursuits. It’s something that we take very seriously. Fleeing and eluding, although it is a felony in the state of Florida, it’s not a forceful felony. So our agency policy is not going to allow us to conduct that pursuit. Now, if there was some sort of other factor to include that forceful felony, then we would continue that pursuit. However, for the safety of the public and for the safety of a motorcycle operator, go ahead and discontinue and go ahead and find the next call.” Abrams: “A perfect example of different departments having different policies when it comes to pursuits.”
  • Lee County, Fla. — Dep. Amelia Steffen and the Fire Department respond to a car accident scene.
  • Lee County, Fla. (pre-recorded segment) — Dep. Kevin Karsnick investigates an alleged altercation outside a restaurant that was allegedly posted to social media. “Apparently it was verbal dispute between…two males over at the Dave &Buster’s, and got a fight over in the parking lot over there. And now we got the other half stopped over here. The other male just seems to have a minor cut to his lip.” After the investigation, Dep. Karsnick explains that “the suspect that we had stopped down the street — he’s going to jail for battery. And the other victim’s fine. Didn’t require medical attention,”
  • Toledo, Ohio — A large group of officers respond to what Abrams describes as a “massive family dispute” in a residential area. Ofr. Mike Gee: “Kind of a chaotic scene when we got here…people were fighting, a couple of them that wouldn’t stop and started threatening right in front of us. They ended up in cuffs. So a few of them right now are gonna go to jail today for disorderly conduct…”

Ofr. Smith summary: “We had a large family party, not even a party, a large family disagreement that happened. Like I’ve been saying, it’s happened at multiple occasions today. Officers have been out multiple times. They have dispersed the family members. It sounds like someone came over here earlier, broke out a window. That family member had left already. We had dispersed the problems. And now they came back, and a huge family fight occurred. So it doesn’t sound like everyone’s happy with the decisions that were made by their family members in the way that the police are handling it right now. But we have to do what we need to do to keep the peace in the area. So they’re not the only ones that live on this block. They’re not the only ones that need to worry about their protection, especially when you have people say they have guns on them, and that they’re willing to shoot their own family members. That puts everybody out here at risk.”

  • Fontana, Calif. — Ofr. Zozaya and other units make contact with a customer who says he was allegedly assaulted by a Subway employee. They also get the 16-year-old worker’s side of the story who claims he was pushed by the man. Caption: “Foot-long fisticuffs.” Abrams: “The good news in these kinds of situations is there is gonna be video in a place like this” Rizzo: “Get both sides of the story, and then take a look at the video to see the truth.” An officer on scene seems to explain or imply to the complainant that in a situation allegedly involving a he-said, he-said, mutual fight, both parties might wind up getting arrested if the complainant insists on making an issue of what allegedly happened. Ofr. Zozaya: “It sounds like…a mutual altercation that happened inside, so they’re both gonna be getting citations for battery.” Abrams: “The only reason these citations are happening is because the other guy just wouldn’t drop it.” Wilson: “I wonder if he totally understood what the officer was trying to explain to him, but either way, mutual combatants — they’re both gonna be charged.”
  • Missing segment — Kannapolis, N.C.
  • Berkeley County, S.C. — Deputies provide backup a local agency in a vehicle pursuit and set up a perimeter in a residential area. The subject vehicle is found abandoned after the driver crashed into a house and ran on foot. Cops allegedly find a firearm. K9 deployed. The driver is subsequently located by Cpl. Carr’s K9 near a backyard, taken into custody, and Mirandized. Cpl. Carr: “Good win for the dog tonight.” Abrams: “Bravo to the K9. Unsung heroes sometimes.” During the car chase, the driver allegedly shot at cops. One officer who was allegedly fired upon was doing a ride-along, and the ride-along happened to be with his own wife. Cpl. Drayton checks in with her; she is okay. Cpl. Drayton: “I’m sure that just put into perspective for her kind of like what he does on a daily basis, but it’s got to be very nerve-wracking.” The driver faces a host of charges. Sgt. Yacobozzi: “

As outlined by Sgt. Yacobuzzi, the driver faces various charges: “So right now, the charges for us, from Berkeley County, [are] gonna be leaving the scene, failure to render aid or give information, and the driving under suspension…we’re gonna charge him with that since he was operating a vehicle. Because he did flee the scene from the car crash, he will catch the leaving the scene charge from us. We’re gonna also issue a summons to the passenger for allowing someone without a driver’s license to operate her vehicle. Also, he threw a gun when he fled, but during the pursuit, it’s confirmed that he did shoot at officers. So that’s an additional charge. So, right now, it looks like it’s the attempted murder on [law enforcement], throwing a gun — I’m sure he’s prohibited — felon in possession. He shouldn’t be getting out in a while, then he’ll have the additional warrant here in Charleston County.”

  • Coweta County, Ga. — Dep. Myles Moran conducts a friendly bicycle stop.
  • Triple Play #3 — Marion County, Fla.
  • Lee County, Fla. — Dep. Steffen makes contact with a man outside McDonald’s who seems to be saying that he was beaten up. Possible language barrier.