Reporters are no strangers to crime scenes, but it is not every day a journalist helps catch a crook. Denver7's own photojournalist Daryl Orr was trying to get video when suddenly he became part of the scene.
“When you're out in the field, this is reality. You don't know what's going to happen,” Orr said. “At about 4 a.m. this morning I was monitoring the police scanner in the news truck, waiting for breaking news to happen.”
And then it did. Five suspects burglarized a marijuana dispensary near 6th Avenue and Federal Boulevard and that's when Orr sprang into action and positioned his news car just north of the scene.
Denver Police search for burglars who hit marijuana dispensary
“I get in the truck, take the truck around and immediately get in front of him and I overheard an officer on the radio saying that he had five suspects running from him, jumping over a fence,” he said.
Orr is no stranger high-octane, breaking news. People in the news business call him the "road wrangler" thanks to his trademark cowboy hat and boots.
Active DPD perimeter at DPS facility. 5 suspects 2 in custody.( I spotted 1, notified PD, captured) 3 at large. pic.twitter.com/I4HLWImyTu
— Daryl Orr (@WxTrackerDaryl) December 23, 2015
“Something caught my eye to my right and I looked over and underneath this bush I thought this is a strange looking rabbit. Then I noticed this was a leg, with a tennis shoe attached to it and it was moving!” he said.
Armed only with his camera and protected by his car door, Orr said the only thing he could think of.
“Stay down get on the ground! Don't move. And he puts his hands out. And with the high beams on his face and our lights flashing he probably thought I was an officer which wasn't my intention,” Orr said.
Still, Orr’s quick-thinking did the trick and the suspect stayed down until two Denver sergeants caught up and cuffed him.
“And then as we were walking back one of the officers mentioned to the suspect, ‘How's that you got caught by a news guy!”
The suspect was taken into custody without incident. Officers are still looking for three or four other people.
Catch Orr weekdays on Denver7 in the morning from 4:30 to 7 a.m.
