When police went searching for a wanted fugitive on Tuesday morning, they got a bit of surprise. The suspect was streaming on Facebook Live and would eventually capture his own arrest on social media for his followers to witness.
Bath Township Police Chief Mike McNeely, who watched the video on Wednesday, was stunned a suspect would "go live" in a situation like that.
"I was dumbfounded," McNeely said. "I couldn't believe the stupidity of somebody doing this."
A law enforcement team from the U.S. Marshals Service Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force banged on the door of an Upson Street home in Akron looking for 25-year-old Andre Warren around 11 a.m.
He had a domestic violence warrant out of Bath Township dating back to October. According to a police report, a woman reported that Warren struck her in the face multiple times in the pool area of Homewood Suites.
Warren's Facebook Live video, which was posted an alias page, shows him watching police on an elaborate surveillance system as they surrounded the house.
Warren mentioned the officers are kicking the door and then he said, "I'm about to run out."
Warren opened a window, but when he realized officers were on the ground waiting for him, he pointed the camera at his face and said, "They got me. They got me, dog. I'm about to walk out."
Moments later, several red lasers from police guns were aimed at Warren inside the home. He put his hands up, but continued to record the events live.
"Can I lay down? You're not gonna shoot me, right?" Warren said to the officers.
The cops, who wanted to make sure the phone wasn't a weapon, continued to yell at Warren to drop it.
"As silly as it sounds, there are weapons out there-- guns that are shaped like that. I'm not saying this was, and this was not the case, but you have to use every precaution," McNeely said.
Warren eventually put the phone down and was arrested. He was booked into the Summit County Jail on the domestic violence warrant and for a probation violation.
