An Uber driver in Houston found himself thrust into the middle of a police pursuit when two officers commandeered his vehicle to chase down a suspect. Captured on a wild dashcam video, the driver managed to stay calm despite the unexpected turn of events.
The driver, Anthony Baines, was navigating through the Houston Heights area in the early hours of August 8, around 12:20 a.m., when he witnessed a shirtless man dart across the road in front of his car, trailed closely by two officers from the Houston Police Department, according to reports from Storyful.
In the video, Baines is seen pulling over at the signal of an officer who quickly approaches, yanking open the front passenger door and jumping in.
Dashcam footage captures the moments when Houston officers urgently hopped into Anthony Baines’ Uber during their pursuit. (Anthony Baines via Storyful)
Without missing a beat, the officer instructs, “Hey, give me a ride over there please,” urging him to move, “Go, go that way … go, go, go, go, go!”
Baines can be heard asking which way he should drive as officers point him in the direction of the suspect. After driving a short distance, the officer signals for her partner, who’s carrying a flashlight, to get in the vehicle, too, and opens the car door and jumps into the backseat.
Houston officers are seen continuing their pursuit on foot in dashcam video. (Anthony Baines via Storyful)
The officers rode with Baines for several minutes while searching the area before one of them appeared to spot the suspect. Both officers jump out of the Uber and resume their pursuit on foot.
“What the f—?!” Baines is heard saying as the officers dart from his car.
Uber driver Anthony Baines is seen with officers in his vehicle during the unusual pursuit. (Anthony Baines via Storyful)
“It caught me completely off guard,” Baines told Storyful. “I’ve never had anything like that happen driving. I was surprised but just did what the officer asked in the moment.”
Houston police confirmed the authenticity of the video and the incident to KPRC 2, which reported officers had been responding to a terroristic threat call involving allegations that the suspect threatened to shoot a woman and her children after becoming upset over a belief that someone had stolen from him.
Police said officers tried to detain the man as he left an apartment, but he refused to cooperate and ran away. An officer asked the driver to take them around the block to the apartment complex, where the officers returned to their own vehicle, according to KPRC.
Dashcam video shows Houston Uber driver Anthony Baines with two officers in his vehicle during a pursuit. (Anthony Baines via Storyful)
Despite the unusual assistance, police did not locate the suspect. His identity has not been released, and the investigation remains ongoing.
Baines later appeared to confirm in a social media post that he was the Uber driver behind the dashcam footage.
“Yep, that was me,” he wrote. “The Uber driver whose dashcam caught two HPD officers jumping in my car to chase a suspect.”
Baines described himself as an Army veteran, husband and father of two who began driving Uber so he and his wife could save for their first home.
News Media has reached out to HPD and Uber for comment.