First Foot Pursuit, Did you fall?

[LB Blue]

I fell the first time i got into a foot pursuit and it was a bad fall. We carry those stupid wooden batons and it got caught in between my legs and I did a baseball slide across the pavement (radio,baton,flashlight all fell out while i got up and kept running). Once that happen, I always remember to take out my baton before I start running after someone.:D

Anyone else had this same situation as a boot during their first foot pursuit?

[johnnyradar]

I fell because I was so excited. I was running through the woods and fell twice. I ended up catching him.

[SlowDownThere]

I don't remember my first foot pursuit, but I remember my last one.
I broke my leg in two places. I'm a bit more selective now about who I chase.

[Stewie]

I don't remember my first foot pursuit, but I remember my last one.
I broke my leg in two places. I'm a bit more selective now about who I chase.

Holy crap man! What happened?

[christuan]

Yup. Fell on all fours up a flight of stairs chasing a dude through a park. My partner wasn't fast enough to radio out our direction of travel so I was holding my flashlight and trying to key my mic at the same time while running. Took the dive and had to run back down the stairs chasing my flashlight. Got him though. Felt incredibly stupid, but at least we caught him.

[SlowDownThere]

Holy crap man! What happened?

Nothing too dramatic, actually. I simply fell while running on an icy sidewalk.

Funny thing is, the guy I was chasing heard the thud, and actually started coming back to me, to help I think. Then he saw another officer approaching in a car, and he took off again. The other officer caught him though.

Ironically, I fell on the sidewalk of a local police officer. I gave him a bag of rock salt for Christmas.:D

[Blackdog F4i]

I don't really have a choice. They run, I chase. I know as soon as I yell "foot pursuit" on the radio, there will be a bunch of cars coming.

I haven't fallen yet. I have ripped gloves on fences, drug radio's, tore pants, etc. When I take them down, it's all worth it. ;)

[crr903]

my first one was ugly. i was in a full tilt, about 0200 hours, it had just rained. i tried to take the corner to go around the back of the house and my feet came right out from underneath me. the gear from my duty belt looked like a yardsale. suspect was apprehended eventually...:D

[pulicords]

I don't really have a choice. They run, I chase. I know as soon as I yell "foot pursuit" on the radio, there will be a bunch of cars coming.

I haven't fallen yet. I have ripped gloves on fences, drug radio's, tore pants, etc. When I take them down, it's all worth it. ;)

Please reconsider. I've seen sooooooo many officers fall and get seriously injured over things as minor as drinking an alcoholic beverage in public. More (forced) IOD retirements than I want to think about. Recently we had a sergeant slip on a stupid leaf. He broke his hip and will never work full duty again. He's had his hip replaced and is already being told about future necessary hip replacements. We've got radios and backup units. Use them both and your chances of safely surviving a 20+ year career are greatly enhanced. Where I work, we're strongly emphasizing the use of perimeters (vs foot pursuits) and I'm totally behind it.

[Blackdog F4i]

Please reconsider. I've seen sooooooo many officers fall and get seriously injured over things as minor as drinking an alcoholic beverage in public.

I understand what you are saying, but I respectfully disagree. I don't get paid to take the safe route every time. If I required a safe job I would have stayed in IT. I don't take unnecessary risks, but calculated risks are required to be effective.

I really have no idea how it is where you work but here, when they run it's usually to dump their dope. I generally think the risk of falling vs. the risk of allowing a felon to escape is acceptable.

Staying in good shape, wearing the proper footwear and equipment (low-tops are for the gym) and knowing your limitations will allow you to minimize risks. Obviously every officer has to evaluate their own situation.

I posted this before and I will stand by it. I will NEVER berate another officer for calling off a foot pursuit because they felt they were getting in over thier head.

Perimiters are great......just not in housing projects.

[pulicords]

I understand what you're saying and respect your opinion, but....every officer I've seen injured during foot pursuits was in good shape, wearing the best of footwear and usually was (past tense) a runner. There's too many hidden dangers such as loose or slippery footing, roots, sticks, leaves, etc... that simply aren't seen when one is concentrating on the fleeing suspect. I hate seeing good officers (especially those I'm responsible for as a supervisor) end their career prematurely over a few rocks or a bag of dope. Usually, those injuries are the kind they never totally recover from. It's painful for them and also for me.

Stay safe!

[bigpoppaproppy]

almost, but caught myself

seriously, my first three were ALL within 2 days of a leg workout....heavy squats + foot pursuit = SUCKS

i have yet to fall though...quads have buckled and I almost fell, but not yet

caught or had them all caught too.....first one I caught...second and third ran him into next units...third I caught...4th ran right towards the lake and decided against taking a swim to get away :p

[Ad422]

There was a cops episode where an officer was on a foot pursuit and the suspect jumped over a small bridge and the officer followed. Unfort., the drop was longer than the officer thought. You see the officer make the jump and suddenly hear the painful moans. The camera man zooms in and you can see the suspect turn around and stop but eventually continues on. Craziest episode ive seen yet

[pulicords]

I use a tape of that episode for training purposes. It's an excellent example of "target fixation"/"tunnel vision." A good officer trying to get a "bad guy" way toooo hard. It could have ended much more worse than it did.

[johnnyradar]

last time I chased a guy , I got hurt but he went to jail. Next time I don't think I'll be so quick to chase someone in the middle of a dark woods. there's always another day. Besides, in most cases, you know where they live. I was at the guys house and he ran and I chased him.

[WhoRunIt1475]

I almost fell, but caught myself

[broke]

A Sgt nearly ended his career during a foot pursuit.

While running his foot dropped into a hole and that jacked up his back really good.



Another officer told me how he nearly damaged his knee during a foot chase.

He said that can really end your career, esp. with all that weight on our belts. It compresses the spine, and does murder to the knees and joints.

If it's minor stuff, he doesn't chase. I don't know what to think.

[MattG]

I used to have my baton behind my firearm on the right side of my body...but I found that during foot pursuits it would expand and trip me. I moved it and carry it almost horizontal so it can't expand on it's own anymore.

[gomets11]

i've been in a couple now...my first one though was memorable, i was clothes lined by a clothes line in some peoples yard....and my last one I was so excited that I was coming around one side of the building while the bad guy and the chasing deputy were coming around the other that i tripped over my own feet and ripped my pants...it happens..b safe

[slama683]

Nope, but I did break a chain link fence. One of the little three footers that you see in the projects. Bad guy jumped it, I went around. Other officer (read faster officer) followed him over the fence and caught him. I put one foot on the metal pipe of the fence, vaulted, and bent the pipe from three feet to about two.

Oh yeah, did I mention about the dog? The little beastie was inside, but the old lady who owned the yard was lazy on the clean up. That was top five of the smelliest prisoners I have been around.:D

[bmizar]

There was a cops episode where an officer was on a foot pursuit and the suspect jumped over a small bridge and the officer followed. Unfort., the drop was longer than the officer thought. You see the officer make the jump and suddenly hear the painful moans. The camera man zooms in and you can see the suspect turn around and stop but eventually continues on. Craziest episode ive seen yet

That was the one where the guy jumped over the guard rail on the freeway and neither one of them new it was a straight drop off on the other side. The suspect got up and hopped another chain link fence but the officer was hurt.

That was a crazy episode for sure.

[johnnyradar]

i like to fight and chase just as much as the next "billy bad ***" BUT getting hurt ain't worth it. If you know who it is running from you and its over something minor, let them go and go sign a warrant on them and get them at their house or at a later time.

[MDS]

Almost. Didn't fall on the first one, I actually fell during the second one! Running acrossed railroad tracks and my boot caught along the rail or tie (don't recall...really doesn't matter) and went down. Tore my freakin britches, got up angry, was fortunate enough to have a sprinter running with me who caught him fifty feet later while I made it to my feet, got running again and almost got run over by a minivan while losing one of my magazines in the street (but thankfully recovered it).

Yea it wasn't pretty after that.

[Jersey Guy]

When I was a rookie MP we got a call one night for a silent alarm in the warehouse that stored gear for when we get deployed. I was wearing the horseshoe shaped cleats on the bottom of my boots and when I entered the warehouse all you could hear is click click click click, the cleats came off the boots that night, lol.

[Lawenforcer72]

saw an episode of cops where an officer was on a foot pursuit. The suspect got around the corner, and the officer keeping his wits didnt follow and set up a perimeter. Well about five minutes later, and ten feet around the corner a suspect was hiding behind a bush with a sawed off shotgun.

Be Smart :)

[JKralC104]

Never fallen during a chase but knocked myself out cold on the mirror of a box truck. :D

Seriously though, I've learned foot pursuits are a WHOLE LOT more than just running after someone. In my first few months I saw a lot of officer do stupid things when it involved pursuits of any sort. Pick your battles and know what you are doing. There are just times when its not worth it. Period.

Take SlowDownThere's story, for instance. You fall and are immobilized or even knocked out. You are semi-aware and able to move but not much. You see the guy you were just chasing walking back toward you... Is he coming to help(believe it or not, some hardened criminals will) or put one in the back of your head?

I know the risk is there, but just try to mitigate it. Stay safe and keep that wood out from between your legs :D

[johnnyradar]

my first night on duty I was new and excited to get into something. I knew this local park was BIG for guys selling the crack. There was a group of them pilled up together in a circle. I thought I'd pull up and get out and walk over LOL. As soon as I pulled up two things happened. First, it looked like it just came a hail storm on the ground, there were crack rocks EVERYWHERE. and Two, everyone scattered. Needless to say, I didn't run but collected alot of crack LOL. I believe all together it was around 41 grams of crack. It was rather funny.

[OWI Enforcer]

I have fallen twice when running but it's because both times I was running through 1.5 feet of snow. That stuff really slows you down.

[Frank Sector]

When I was a rookie I would just sprint full out and I busted my butt a few times over fences and through ditches on night shift. It seems the older I get the "smarter" I chase. Most of my foot pursuits end up with me finding the guy after he beds down or I take an alternate route and catch him on in intercept route behind a house or store.

My last one here was during day shift. I jumped down a small 3 foot concrete wall and began running across the street. I did not close the distance at first because I knew I was going to catch him in less that 30 seconds and wanted to get out on the air to put out my location before I went hands on.
Well as I begin running I feel something slapping me on the right knee. It is my asp which got extended, still in its holder on my belt but it was know beating my legs up as I was running.
To add to that my radio came out of its pouch and was dragging behind me with the microphone still attached to my left lapel.
As the final insult I had deployed my Taser and missed so I was now dragging 21 feet of wires.
I felt like a retard humping a doorknob and my backup who arrived just as I was reaching the suspect was laughing his keyster off watching me wrestle my equipment across the street.

That day my equipment gave me more of a fight than the suspect did!!

I solved most of my slipping problems by not wearing boots, I wear Converse or Reebok black leather shoes and they kick butt when I have to run.No snow or slush to worry about here so no boots needed.

[TheDesire]

Yet to have a foot pursuit. It makes me sad. :(

[GACop922]

I did on the first one...but then again, so did he. We crossed the street a couple of times, once nearly missing getting run over by a semi. After that close call I tired of just chasing and reached for the guy. Call it rookie luck but I managed a handful of BG shirttail in my hand and pulled down. Very hard. BG goes to the ground, unfortunately, so do I. My FTO is rounding the car Taser drawn just as guy gets up and...zap. Down twice in one day for the guy. Good day for us though. I think that was about 2 weeks into FTO. Love 'em!

[bucksone]

I didn't fall on my first foot pursuit (17 years ago,) but I did learn several valuable lessons. We were searching for the suspect out of a fresh bike theft when lo and behold, riding down an alley right at me is the guy. I recognize the guy as a crackhead that I had already helped to arrest once before in my short time on the job. At that time, the local crackhouses were taking bikes as straight trade for crack. I bailed out of the cruiser and the chase was on.

1. Stay in the car as long as possible!
2. If your radio shoulder mike has one of those clips that can be positioned in a 360-degree arc, be sure to positon it so it clips on your epalautte from the top down. Mine was clipped from the bottom of the epalautte up, so it came loose while I ran. I looked silly and had a hard time trying to grab the mike as it bounced up and down as I ran.
3. If you're on foot and the suspect is on a bike, you'd better catch him in the first few steps. I didn't and it quickly became a case of just trying to keep him in sight so I could radio in his location, once uncoordinated me finally got ahold of that damn mike!
4. If he goes around a blind corner, you don't! When he went around that corner, I luckily remembered that we took a loaded .357 off him the last time we arrested him. By the time I safely sliced the pie on that corner, he was long gone. He got away, but I lived to fight another day. I also got to help arrest him for a felony drug offense the next month, which finally got him a little prison time.

My current chief has said we should treat foot chases like car chases, in that we should evaluate whether the risk is justified. I like catching bad guys just as much as the next guy, but I am going to be smart about it.

[sdb29]

Yeah. Right on my butt..
It was years ago. I was on a carstop one winter night when the passenger, who had warrants, bolted. he ran back past my unit and around a corner onto a cross street which sloped downhill.

I tool off after him. My Bianchi Breakfront holster( Do they still make them?) was unsnapped. As I was running the cuff of my leather jacket caught the butt of my revolver and spun it out of the holster and down the street on the ice.

When I got to the spot where the weapon came to rest I tried to pick it up on the fly and went flat on my back. I ended up sliding down the street a few yards , but unfortunately the bad guy ran faster than I slid.

[Gene L]

Anyone who gets caught by me in a foot pursuit WANTS to get caught. I've always been slow, even when I was young. They tested us in the 8th grade PE class, and I tied for the slowest kid at 100 yards. And I was skinny, just can't run. Flat footed.

An embarrassing thing that happend to me, once I went into a house after dark to serve a warrant. The guy wasn't there, and I said, "OK, I'm leaving, and I better not find out you're hiding the guy." I opened the door and walked straight into a closet.

I tried to put a face on it, "Well, he's not in here," but the whole family was snickering.

[Seventy2002]

My first pursuit started when my training officer and I were doing an FI on two subjects. On of the guys bolted and i went after him. I cut between two houses and went over a fence. I was setting up to jump the fence when I was tackled by a shrub. I went tail over teakettle but damaged only my ego.
I went back to the car where the other guy had told my FTO who the rabbit was and where he lived. We went to the guy's house and waited. He showed up about 15 minutes later. He was wet, muddy and scratched, having gone through every piece of rough ground and blackberry patch on his route.

[broke]

Last week, we were all running after a security guard told us he saw someone smoking weed nearby.

I tried to jump over some grass which was on a curb area...big mistake.

SPLAT! I fell face forward on my hands and sprawled out like a starfish

Got up, ran a few more feet and SPLAT! did the exact same thing only my radio mic went flying too.

Best part: it happened in one of the busiest towns with a lot of people looking on!

Sprained my middle finger and my knees are still sore

[theconfessor]

Had a local turd who always rabbits but then "covey quail". Had some county warrants, had the Chief cover the back (bad idea). He wasn't home or in the attic when consent to search was offered. I noted a very small bathroom window open then went to the back where the Chief was. High weeds about 50 yds from the house, started in the high weeds, sure enough, he was "quailing" in the weeds, then broke when I was about 10 yds away. Chased him through the weeds not gaining on him & right before entering the alley, he fell. I laughed & yelled, "I got your dumb ***** now!" Never dawned on me that he fell for probably a good reason: That's right brothers & sisters there WAS a reason. Two strands of barbed wire....... Sure enough, I hit the top wire which was about knee high & tumbled myself. Bad turd was up & his feet never touched the ground again. There I was, pride gone, torn pants, scuffed clarino (from the alley gravel) & a teatnus shot in my future. Got a cool lookin' scar on my right knee from that to remind me......