Dashcam video shows two Houston police officers jumping into an Uber and directing the driver to chase a man who fled on foot, authorities and the driver said.
The video, posted to Storyful, shows Anthony Baines stopping after an officer waved him down about 12:20 a.m. Aug. 8 in the Houston Heights area. An officer hops into the front passenger seat and tells him, “Hey, give me a ride over there please,” then shouts, “Go, go that way … go, go, go, go, go!” another portion of the footage shows.
After driving a short distance, the front-seat officer signals to her partner, who opens the rear door and jumps into the back seat carrying a flashlight. The officers rode for several minutes before both exited the vehicle and resumed the pursuit on foot, the video shows. Baines is heard exclaiming in the footage.
Baines told Storyful the episode “caught me completely off guard.” He later confirmed in a social media post that he was the driver in the dashcam footage and described himself as an Army veteran, husband and father who began driving for Uber to save for a home.
Houston police confirmed the video’s authenticity to KPRC 2 and told the station officers had been responding to a terroristic threat call alleging the suspect threatened to shoot a woman and her children. Police said officers tried to detain the man as he left an apartment, but he ran and would not cooperate. The officers asked the driver to take them around the block to the apartment complex, where they returned to their own vehicle, KPRC reported. Police did not locate the suspect, and his identity has not been released. Fox News Digital said it contacted the Houston Police Department and Uber for comment.
Jon Ross Myers is the executive editor and publisher of the Mississippi News Network, Mississippi's largest digital only media company. He can be reached at editor@tippahnews.com
