A Houston Uber driver was caught off guard when two police officers jumped in his vehicle and directed him to chase a suspect who was fleeing on foot.
Anthony Baines said he was driving for Uber at around 12:20 a.m. local time on Aug. 8 when he stopped near East 7 1/2 Street and Oxford Street in Houston Heights, according to Storyful.
The driver’s dashcam captured the moment a suspect ran across the street in front of his vehicle while two police officers were running after them on foot.
That’s when one of the officers got into Baines’ vehicle and asked him to follow the suspect.
“Hey, give me a ride over there, please,” one officer said as she got in the vehicle. “Go! Drive that way. Go, go, go!”
The dash camera footage shows another officer getting into the back seat of the rideshare vehicle, who was also chasing the suspect.
The second officer directed the driver to the area where the suspect was headed and around two minutes later both officers exited the vehicle, according to the video.
“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.”
Global News has reached out to the Houston Police Department for further comment, but has not received a response.
Erika Ramirez, a spokesperson for the Houston Police Department, told the New York Times that officers were responding to a report that a man had threatened to shoot a woman and her two children during a dispute.
The man reportedly believed someone had stolen his property and began to “exchange words” with the woman at an apartment building, according to Ramirez.
When officers tried to detain the man, he reportedly managed to pull away from them and began running away.
“While trying to locate him, a nearby citizen assisted the officers by giving them a ride,” Ramirez told the outlet. “The citizen then dropped the officers back at the apartment where they used patrol vehicles to continue searching for the suspect.”
Ramirez said police had not located the unidentified man. His identity has not been released and the investigation remains ongoing.
“We’re thankful for him helping us,” Ramirez added of Baines.