Sgt. Eric Blake just wanted some ibuprofen. He wasn’t planning to help stop a daring daylight robbery.
“He just walked right past us, like we didn’t even exist,” said Blake, with the Maryland-based 372nd Military Police Company. “The first reaction was, ‘Is this really happening?’ “
Not only had the alleged robber ignored the uniformed soldiers and gone about his business, he’d done so without knowing that both MPs hold down day jobs in law enforcement – Blake with Maryland’s Anne Arundel County, Dabney in Washington, D.C.
Minutes after the bandanna-wearer – a 16-year-old, according to local media reports – emerged from the CVS, Dabney had him pinned to the ground, with Blake directing local law enforcement to their location. How they got there required some less-than-typical police work.
Both soldiers said they instinctively reached for their sidearms when they realized a robbery was likely, but neither was carrying a weapon. From that point, they “tried to become the best witnesses they could,” Dabney said.
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The pace picked up when “we heard the metal-on-metal ping when he threw the knife against the Dumpster,” Dabney said. “We decided we’ll go ahead and take him down now.”
Breathing heavy and with three other soldiers joining the pursuit, the teenager heeded the MPs’ demands, stopped running and dropped to the ground in a parking lot across from the CVS. The chase lasted two minutes at most, Blake said.
Dabney held the teenager’s hands behind his back, Blake continued directing law enforcement, McCarthy brought the van around to the scene and the other sergeants helped police locate the knife.
The teen faces robbery and weapons charges, according to the Courier-Post newspaper.
Blake has served 12 years in the Reserve, including two deployments, he said. Dabney has two years in, and has been a patrol officer in D.C. since June, he said.
“I was kind of stunned at first,” Dabney said of the incident. “I didn’t think somebody would be that blatant. That’s kind of how you see it in the movies, somebody walks in with a knife in their hand and a bandanna over their face.
“Here in the District, they’re a little bit more discreet about it.”
