A southwest Iowa man says getting involved in a police chase was like an episode of “Cops.” The man’s pickup truck was stolen from his home on Labor Day and then Thursday afternoon, he spotted the truck crossing the Veterans Memorial Bridge from Council Bluffs into Omaha, so he started chasing it.
He says the truck thief had taken the stickers off the window and changed the license plates, but he recognized other elements and knew it was his vehicle. The man, who didn’t want to be identified, says he called 911 and stayed with the truck until law officers joined the pursuit.
The Iowa State Patrol and Omaha police picked up the chase and stuck with the pickup until it crashed into a fence. The driver, 30-year-old Jessica Katz, took off running but was soon in handcuffs.
“I followed the cop cars to the scene and she was already in custody by the time I got here,” he says. “It was quite the ordeal. It felt like an episode of ‘Cops’ and I was the cop without a badge.” Katz was booked on charges of theft, hit and run, drug possession and flight to avoid arrest.