Caught On Tape: "Eventful" 1st Day For Carrollton PD Body Cams
Follow CBSDFW.COM: Facebook | Twitter
CARROLLTON ( CBSDFW.COM) - The Carrollton Police Department, like so many others in North Texas and across the country, recently purchased body cameras for their officers.
On the first day the devices were deployed, a suspect's attempt to run over an officer, subsequent in-city police chase and discovery of a six-week-old baby inside the on-the-run vehicle, were all caught on tape.
The incident happened this past weekend when bicycle officers on patrol in Josey Ranch Lake Park saw a man throw a beer bottle into a wildflower patch -- in violation of city ordinance. Officers asked the man for his identification, but he instead got into his car and drove away, nearly running over a police officer in the process.
On the video you can hear the officer identifying the vehicle and its license plate to dispatchers. Another officer caught up with the car near Belt Line Road and Interstate-35, but the driver, later identified as Gerard Perry, refused to stop.
The police pursuit weaved on and off the highway and ended when Perry abandoned the car at a Dallas apartment complex. The video shows him climbing over a fence and running into a nearby shopping center. An officer pursued Perry and the 23-year-old suspect was later found hiding in a coffee shop bathroom and arrested.
While one officer pursued Perry another stayed with his abandoned vehicle. It only took a few moments before that officer realized there was a baby, later identified as Perry's six-week-old son, inside the ditched car. The child was in a car seat and survived the police pursuit uninjured.
Perry meanwhile is charged with Abandoning and Endangering a Child, Aggravated Assault on a Peace Officer, Evading Arrest, and Possession of Marijuana. He remains in the Dallas County Jail on bonds totaling more than $300,000.
(©2016 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
