Hot Pursuit

With CA Cops blessing (you'll see why) I give you the details of his first foot pursuit.....

The sun beat down on his left arm as he cruised around looking for someone to pull over.  It was his first day on the day shift after coming off of FTO. He was looking to please and impress his new Sgt, who fellow officers had some pretty strong opinions about.  They wished him well when they learned that CA Cop would be on Sarge's team
"That's the one he thought." He flipped on the lights and sped up to catch the vehicle with no rear license plate. The car did not pull over immediately, but seemed to have a change of heart and made a sharp right into a large store parking lot. CA Cop followed suit and parked his police cruiser behind the beat up vehicle.

The car held two black males and a female driver.  CA Cop discovered that the two males both had warrants for violent crimes and weapons charges.  Sarge and another officer showed up at the scene to assist CA Cop as he took the first male into custody and placed him in the back of his patrol car.

Warrant #2 started looking around and then took off running.  CA Cop took off after him.  This was the moment he had been anticipating.  He had seen it play out so many times on shows like "Cops".  Come what may a fence, a gate, a wall, whatever was in his path CA Cop was determined to conquer all to catch this guy.  CA Cop, a former baseball player, is pretty speedy.  Sprinting is not something that is foreign to him.  His sense of sound grew muffled as the wind whipped around him,. He pushed hard to stretch his legs as far as they would reach with each stride.  His arms were tense and flexed and the pumped back and forth at his sides.  He was actually gaining on the guy! And gaining quickly......

Then it happened.......His radio fell from his side. Connected by wires to his chest and ear it began dragging behind him.  It made loud clanking noises as it bounced and scraped against the pavement with every stride.  CA Cop turned his torso and reached for the wires and pulled his radio up from the ground.  Got it.  He turned his head back in the direction he was running just in time to see the parking block directly in front of him.  He already had his leg in motion as his foot approached the top of the parking block.  The toe of his boot caught it.  And. Down. He. Went. Hard. On the pavement. In the middle of the parking lot.  On a busy day in Baytown. 

Sarge pulled up in his car.  Helped CA Cop up and patted him on the back.

Bruised ego and scraped up arms and knee, CA Cop headed back to his traffic stop to finish what he had started.

When he got back to the station he discovered that word had traveled quickly.  The rookie was greeted with jabs, nicknames, and the like.  But later on one by one the other officers took the time to confess to CA Cop their own experiences with "The Falling Radio" and the twists and tangles they had ended up in as a result. 

Apparently running with a radio and duty belt has a learning curve.