There comes a point during any attempt to flee from police when running out of road should probably be taken as a sign. One suspect in California apparently disagreed, deciding the San Francisco Bay looked like a perfectly reasonable continuation of his escape route.
According to the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office, the East Palo Alto Police Department requested assistance after a dangerous suspect fled from officers on foot near Cooley Landing. Rather than surrender when he reached the water, police say the suspect entered the Bay and turned what had been a foot pursuit into something requiring considerably more equipment.
San Mateo County deputies responded alongside three Sheriff’s Office K-9 teams, while a California Highway Patrol helicopter watched the situation from above. Deputies positioned themselves along the shoreline, effectively removing the rather obvious option of simply swimming somewhere else and climbing back onto dry land.
Eventually, officers didn’t have to get wet themselves to finish the job. East Palo Alto officers boarded a Menlo Park Fire Protection District boat and safely took the suspect into custody, ending an escape attempt that managed to involve police officers, deputies, K-9s, a helicopter and a fire department boat.
That Wasn’t the Greatest Escape
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The video is pretty funny, featuring several officers as they look out into the ocean at the suspect drifting beyond the waves. Above the suspect is a helicopter and shortly after, you can see several boats making their way towards him.
It’s pretty funny to think that anyone could really think they could get away from police just by swimming into the water. Unless he had a secret, underwater retreat he was planning to go to, I don’t really see what he was planning.
More than anything, I’m curious to know just how much the whole endeavor cost the department.
Comments Question the Suspect’s Swimming Escape Plan
Commenters understandably had questions about exactly where the suspect thought he was going once he entered the Bay. One person asked, “Dude? Where TF were you going? Alcatraz?” while another imagined the suspect realizing midway through his swim that being “fully dressed and wearing shoes” might mean this wasn’t such a good idea after all.
Others thought the situation could have benefited from some appropriately aquatic intimidation. One commenter suggested someone should have strapped on a shark fin before going after him, while another wondered where Shark Week was when you needed it most.
For everyone else, the humor was simply in watching an escape attempt continue long after the available escape routes had disappeared. “You can run, but they’ll get yah!” one person wrote, which probably needs a slight amendment after this incident: apparently you can swim, too, but they’ll just bring a boat.