STORY BEHIND HUFF PUFF FOOT CHASE
I have always been a rather "large" individual,
and as a result, I sometimes get underestimated by colleagues and crooks
alike. As I'm fond of saying, I'm nowhere near as out of shape as you think
I am. In fact, in 22 years, I have never, ever lost a foot pursuit to a
fleeing crook.
In this particular incident, I had stopped a fellow to
give him a ticket, which at most would have cost him $15.00. However, he
started lying to me about his name (some hidden police sixth sense told
me something wasn't right). Well at that point I started digging further
and finally found out his right name. As soon as I contacted radio, I was
advised there was a warrant outstanding for this person. I placed him under
arrest. At this point he takes off and starts running. I don't even know
what the warrant is for.
This guy is determined to try and get away, he zigzagged
back and forth across a main street (Hastings for those who know Vancouver).
He was dodging in and out of traffic with me right behind him yelling into
my portable radio which way he was going. My hat flew off, but of course
I couldn't stop to pick it up. He kept going but I could see he was slowing
down. Then again, so was I. I had the added disadvantage of having skated
in a hockey game not an hour before this chase began and I was still pretty
tired from that. Anyway, when I later talked to the radio operator, she
was giggling that every time I said something on the radio, the sentence
was punctuated by the sound of me huffing and puffing.
Well somewhere during the chase I caught my pants on
something (I know I know, but I'm sticking to that part of the story :).
My pants ended up split right from the crotch to the ankle and afterwards
ended up looking like a long kilt. Of course when I retraced my steps to
locate my hat, it was long gone. Darn thing cost me $30 to replace.
The suspect ran around a corner, and directly into the
side of a strategically parked police car. I ran up and slapped the cuffs
on him. It turned out this guy was wanted on several warrants for bank
robbery and was wanted cross Canada. He also ended up charged with Escaping
Custody and Resisting arrest. All of that because of a measly $15 Jaywalking
ticket.