You’ve finally caught up to a fleeing suspect you’ve been chasing on foot. Now, how do you get him stopped-fast-in a way that’s safest for you?
Grabbing clothing may not work. Gangbangers commonly leave their outer garment unbuttoned or unzipped so they can easily slip out of it and keep going if it’s grabbed.
Traditional defensive tactics may not work, either. You may not be able to establish an escort hold in order to take the subject to the ground using an arm bar.
If you played football as a kid you may impulsively want to tackle the subject because that’s what’s familiar to you. Bad idea. Police1 trainer Gary Klugiewicz explains why:
- Tackling leaves a suspect’s upper body unrestrained-and dangerous. Klugiewicz was involved in reviewing a case in which a Wisconsin officer tackled a subject, who then was able to stab him multiple times in the face with a screwdriver. (The officer’s semi-auto sidearm didn’t work because he jammed the muzzle so hard against the attacker’s ribs that he took the gun out of battery.)
- If your tackle is successful, you end up on the ground with a very bad guy. “Now you could be in a ground fight with all your weapons vulnerable to disarming,” Klugiewicz says.
- Unlike football, where tackles are made on a grassy field while wearing protective gear, the foot pursuit game is often played on unforgiving concrete that’s littered with shards of glass and other hazards. “You could hurt yourself so severely coming down that you may not be able to fight effectively or to continue the chase if it resumes.”
- You may miss the suspect and hit something else. Some years ago a prosecutor in Chicago decided to take a flying tackle at a running war protester during a rally that escalated out of control. He missed-and slammed headlong into the stone facade of a building. He woke up a paraplegic.
What’s safer for you, Klugiewicz says, is to “check” the suspect, not tackle him. That is, you knock him off balance by pushing him from behind.
When you’ve pulled within touching distance (ideally, behind him at about the 2 1/2 position), hit his back or side with an abrupt, hard, piston-like thrust of one or both of your palms. The impact may bring him down or should at least cause severe loss of balance, while keeping you from becoming entangled with him. Based on what he does, you can then use your OC, baton, firearm, empty-hand techniques or other control options.
“This works for smaller officers against larger suspects, as well as when you have the size advantage,” Klugiewicz explains. “It doesn’t take much to break the balance of a person who’s in a full-out run. But even if it doesn’t work, it does not expose you to undue risk like tackling would. You stay safer and you retain all your options to disengage or escalate.
“Remember: As in all use of force, any escalation of force must be reasonable, based on the severity of the offense and your perception of threat from the subject you are trying to catch. Pushing a fleeing subject from behind can injure him or her. Make sure you can articulate why your actions were necessary, based on your training, experience and the circumstances.”
