A Houston Uber driver found himself unexpectedly pulled into a police chase when two officers climbed into his car and asked him to follow a suspect running through the neighborhood, according to dramatic dashcam footage.
Anthony Baines said he was working an Uber shift around 12:20 a.m. on Aug. 8 in Houston Heights when a shirtless man suddenly sprinted across the road in front of him, with two Houston Police Department officers trailing close behind, Storyful reported.
In the video, an officer can be seen flagging Baines down. He stops, and she quickly makes her way to the vehicle before getting into the front passenger seat.
Dashcam footage captured Houston police officers entering Uber driver Anthony Baines’ vehicle during the pursuit. (Anthony Baines via Storyful)
“Hey, give me a ride over there please,” the officer says in the recording. “Go, go that way … go, go, go, go, go!”
Baines is heard asking for directions as the officers gesture toward where the suspect was headed. Moments later, after the car moves a short distance, the officer motions for her partner, who is holding a flashlight, to join them. He opens the door and climbs into the back seat.
The dashcam video later shows the Houston officers getting out and continuing the chase on foot. (Anthony Baines via Storyful)
The officers remained in Baines’ Uber for several minutes as they searched the area. When one of them appeared to locate the suspect, both officers jumped out of the vehicle and continued pursuing the man 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 Outlet has reached out to HPD and Uber for comment.
