For first responders, no two emergency calls are the same. No two crashes are exactly similar. And, of course, not every police foot chase looks like something on a cop drama. If anything illustrates that much, it’s this case. Camera footage captured police officers riding on a RAM pickup truck and on the back of a Harley-Davidson to catch up with a runner. 

A dash cam video shows police officers riding on the back of a pickup truck and a Harley-Davidson to catch a runner

Dash cam footage shows a police officer hanging off the tailgate of a RAM pickup truck as it cruises down the shoulder of a crowded highway. But he wasn’t doing so to save his shoes from some tread wear. No, this cop was hitching a ride on the RAM to follow a criminal. The criminal had the same idea; he was riding on a trailer up ahead. It’s the kind of thing you’d expect to see in an action flick.

Moments later, the criminal’s ride realizes he’s being used. The truck and trailer came to a halt, forcing the runner to take off on foot. That is, if he didn’t want to end up in handcuffs. The runner darts across the highway, the officer riding the RAM on his tail.

The man eventually reached the concrete barrier at the center of the highway. But he didn’t make it far; another cop tackled him against the barrier and took him to the ground. Despite the wildness of a slow-speed chase involving borrowed rides, the last bit of the chase takes the cake.

As two police officers arrested the runner, yet another cop arrived on the scene. Like the RAM-riding officer, this one arrived on the scene by catching a ride. But rather than hopping on a tailgate, he jumped on the back of a Harley-Davidson bagger. The motorcyclist took him to the arrest and offloaded the cop at the scene.

Viewers seemed impressed with the effective, albeit unconventional tactic. “Improvise! There’s no specific training for this. Fluid situations call for deliberate actions in our line of work,” one viewer commented. Another social media-goer responded, “Work smarter, not harder?” Either way, it’s an interesting use of the tools at hand.