Prison Escapee Convinces Cop He is Actually a Jogger

[Eisenhower]

On April 5, 2006, Richard Lee McNair smuggled himself out of prison in a pile of mailbags. A Ball, La., police officer spotted him running across train tracks that day. McNair, wearing a tank top and shorts, could be seen in an online video telling the officer that he was out on a run. The officer told him a man had escaped from prison.

He called on his radio to get a description of the escapee. Laughing, the officer said: "You know the bad thing about it, you're matching up to him." "Well, that sucks doesn't it," McNair replied. A few minutes later, the officer explained why he stopped McNair: "When I crossed the tracks down there, I saw you running. I said, `Well, how lucky can I be.'"

"No, nope, nope, nope," McNair said. "I'm not no prison escapee."

The officer decided McNair was not his man, then offered him some advice: "If you do jog again in the future, carry some ID with you." They exchanged a laugh, and McNair took off running. "Be careful buddy," the officer said.

Somehow, McNair got all the way to Canada. On Thursday, police captured him about 100 miles north of the border in Campbellton, New Brunswick. He had been driving a stolen van, Erck said.



Here's another funny one:

[stovt001]

As dumb as that sounds, I can actually understand why it all happened. As a runner, I wouldn't want to be arrested while out on one of my runs just because I matched a radioed in description of someone they're looking for, and I'm sure the cop didn't want to inconvenience an innocent jogger. So as stupid as this sounds, at least this cop wasn't just going to arrest anyone. Still, pretty funny. At least they eventually caught him.

[TAG UR IT]

It happens. It's funny for us but imagine how increadibly embarrassing it is for the officer. The cool thing is that if you know how to use the resources in front of you (laptop w/ programs in the car), you can find out anything about anyone and distinguish if they are lying or not. If that guy was matching up to him, he should have held onto him for a few minutes. It's embarrasing if the officer is wrong. But, it is a minor inconveniece on the person. Yes, I actually do feel remorse when a good person is held onto for a short period while investigating only to find out that they are not part of the situation. But, I'll do it every time. The benefit of catching the bad guy outweighs those "oops" feelings.

[Eisenhower]

Well, the cop made a series of mistakes:

1. The first thing I got was that the officer almost immediately treated McNair like "one of the boys" instead of a person of interest; not the smartest move in his line of work. He (the officer) almost felt at ease as soon as McNair told him that he stayed in a hotel just up the road and is into roofing. So at ease that he leisurely smoked the rest of his cigarette.
2. Also, when the officer first asked McNair what his name was, McNair replied, "Robert Jones"; the officer then began wiping dog crap off the bottom of his shoe. Later on the officer again asked him his name and McNair replied, "Jimmy Jones". Hello! Red flag here!
3. The officer didn't ask for the "jogger's" social security number either to verify his personal claims. Since he didn't have any ID on him or a local home address, seems like a reasonable request being that they're looking for an escaped convict and all.
4. The officer admitted that this "jogger" couldn't be the escapee because he would have run away by now. That's a common assumption since 99% of all crooks & fugitives choose "fleeing" as the route-of-choice to escape justice. 'Course if you have nowhere to go, deception seems a viable alternative to capture-- depending on how you look at it.

But standing in the cop's shoes, this doesn't "look" like an escaped convict either. He doesn't have on prison issued fatigues and he's carrying a water bottle with him. True, he may have had enough time to change, get a shave and swipe a canteen- but I can see some of the doubts he must have had.

I bet the guys at the precinct and McNair are still laughing at him.

[stovt001]

Ok Eisenhower, point 1 and 2 really change things. That new information definitely casts this in a whole different light, and now I agree that the cop was a moron.

And you're right in point 3, there was some way he could have verified this guy's identity. On the other hand, as a jogger I'd be cautious about giving my SSN even to a uniformed police officer unless I was in a station with official procedures. Just because the person is an officer doesn't mean he might not want a little extra on the side you know?

[TAG UR IT]

It's very rare that I would ever ask for a social security #. But, I will in a case like that...if I can't find you on the computer. Yes. The change of the names is an immediate red flag. That would have been it for me.

It does happen that criminal caught in the act will play it off and make up some crazy story like "I'm just a jogger." One of our guys pulled up to a known place where burlaries have been regularly occurring. When he pulls up, a guy dressed all in black is running away from the apartments. He stops him. The guy says that his apt was burglarized and he was chasing the criminal. He tells the officer what the "criminal" looked like, what he was wearing, and that he ran "that way." ...along w/ what apt it was and that his dad was home calling police.

The officer took off "that way" only to find....nothing. He went back looking for the guy. Nothing. He went to the apt to find "dad" waiting. Officer says I saw your son as he was chasing the bad guy, but he got away. "Dad" says, "I don't have a son."


OUCH.

[stevenm357]

Being a geek you know i have a cool feature on my phone.. it's a camera phone and can email a pic to anyone... that would have taken.. umm 2 minutes.. .

[stovt001]

The guy was finally caught by a rookie Mountie in Canada. It took my until they mentioned his jogging story halfway through the article that I realized it was the same guy. Enjoy: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071027/...FhGi5UHl4E1vAI