Dash cam footage has surfaced from this past weekend showing the takedown of a man who had stolen a police cruiser and was taking it on a joyride.
The dash cam footage in question wasn’t taken from inside a police vehicle, however. Instead, the footage comes from the car of Chris Marzan, a former security guard who police say helped bring the joyride to an end with the arrest the alleged perpetrator.
“If I can convey any message to everyone it’s this. If you see something, don’t just sit and watch,” Marzan told ABC-10 News in California. “If you do nothing at all, you’re just as much the problem.”
According to the Sacramento Police Department, one of their police vehicles was stolen near Stockton Boulevard and Riza Avenue on Saturday night while the officer was responding to another call. Police then received another 911 call reporting the stolen cruiser – this latter call was made by Marzan after he noticed the car driving erratically.
At first, Marzan said he thought he was being pulled over when he noticed the police cruiser approach him with its lights on. As captured on Marzan’s dash cam, the car then began swerving between lanes and even struck a telephone pole.
“Then it turned into, ‘Okay, we have an officer in distress or it’s a stolen patrol car,’ to ‘This guy needs to be off the streets because he’s driving recklessly,’” Marzan told ABC-10.
Marzan then tailed the stolen police car as he made his call to 911, eventually following it into the parking lot of an A-1 Market on Sunnyslope Drive.
“I had a safety kit in my car that had handcuffs from a long time ago when I did security. Pulled those out, and as soon as I went in, I had my flashlight,” Marzan said in a separate interview with CBS-13. “First thing I said was ‘Get down on the ground.’ He complied. He had a 40-ounce malt liquor in his hands, he had it open, he was ready to drink it.”
“He says, ‘You got me,’ and laughs as I take him to the ground.”
According to police the suspect, identified as 22-year-old Zachary Samaha, was arrested and charged with vehicle theft and DUI.
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A spokesperson for the Sacramento Police Department said in a statement to media that the department is looking into how the suspect was able to steal a police vehicle.
“We’re constantly evaluating and looking at our procedures. We’ll do the same with this incident, looking at our procedures and policies to see if there’s any areas we need to change or any lessons learned,” said Sgt. Vance Chandler of the Sacramento Police Department.
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