Video from cruiser, body camera give glimpse of high-tension police work

SIDNEY — Sidney police released cruiser and body camera video from a chase last weekend that ended in the arrest of four people on multiple felony charges.

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Sidney Police Chief William Balling talked with WHIO on Tuesday about the procedures for an incident such as the one Saturday.

It started on I-75 North when a police car pulled behind the vehicle because its window tint was too dark. The car quickly sped away, exiting on Michigan Street. The chase continued through downtown Sidney and ended outside the city’s limits.

The driver lost control and the car left the road. That’s when three of the four people inside took off running through a field.

A K-9 officer was in the lead on the chase and you can hear him dispatch K-9 Kilo in trying to apprehend the suspects. Eventually they stopped, put their hands up and the officer called off the dog. Near the end of his chase through the field, the officer did pull his service weapon and ordered one of the suspects to the ground.

The suspect followed the commands and went to the ground. He can be heard multiple times saying to the officer, “My hands are up. Please don’t shoot me, sir.”

Balling said in this situation, the officer correctly had his gun out because of the dangerous nature of the situation. The car they were in was stolen, had stolen license plates on it, and in it were 40 grams of fentanyl and a loaded gun that possibly was used in a shooting in Cincinnati that involved a police officer.

The chase ended without incident but Balling said things could have gone very differently.

“If that officer would have walked up on the window tint and had them roll down the window, he could have been shot at from the people inside,” Balling said. “They had shown possibly that they’re willing to shoot at officers so it’s a very critical stop. So when the officers we just like to tell the public please just roll down your windows, comply with the lawful orders, it will make the traffic stop go much safer for everybody involved.”

Balling said that the officer kept his gun drawn because even though one suspect was the ground, the other two who had stopped running and had their hands in the air, still posed a potential threat.

The officer, though, did point his gun at a different angle, away from the people when a second officer arrived and was able to begin taking of the suspects into custody. Balling said all of this was done correctly and even noted that the officers handled this with professionalism.

One officer helped one of the arrested adults to his feet and after standing, the suspect thanked the officer.

Balling said the incident is another example why the Sidney Police Department is in favor of having body cameras. The issue departments face with the body cameras is not the cost to buy them or use, he said, but the cost of server, storage space and all of the expenses and time that come with operating and maintaining the cameras. That’s the one thing that can be prohibitive to law enforcement agencies -- to be able to find the money to pay for all of the infrastructure associated with the cameras.

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