Ewan Somerville
Jul 09, 2019
@DerbyshireARU on Twitter
Imagine trying to do a runner from police and losing your slider in the process. Then imagine police openly mocking you for it on social media.
That's exactly what happened around 1am on Monday morning when a man driving a Ford Fiesta failed to stop for armed Derby police officers before having a mini collision with a bush.
Even with the help of a police dog, officers couldn't catch him before he 'legged it'. But the man managed to leave behind his wallet, a mobile phone, ID and... a slider.
Soon the Roads Policing Unit arrived for back up and spotted the potential for a hilarious viral social media snap.
Yup, the officers rolled out *that* tape (you know, the one on TV dramas) and cordoned off the iconic Adidas sandal with four traffic cones.
At first there was confusion
Kenneth wasn't having any of it
Thankfully, Roger weighed in with a brief history of the sandal:
And then it got deep
The tweet was meant to be a joke, clearly, and Derby Police told indy100 it's part of a long-standing Twitter rivalry between two of their police teams.
“Anyone who follows our roads policing and armed response accounts will know that they often engage in a bit of light-hearted banter with one another.
“The intention is to add a bit of personality and humour – when it’s appropriate – to what is an otherwise very serious job.
“The photos and tweets in question were clearly a joke between the two accounts, taken and posted at a time when the officers were waiting for a recovery truck to arrive at the scene.
“No officer time was wasted and the operational capabilities of the force were not impacted in any way whatsoever by the officers who had to stay at the scene.
“Adding a human voice to our accounts is something we encourage from our officers, and this is just another example of the teams doing just that.
“It appears the exchange may have been misinterpreted by some sections of the media but anyone who reads the tweets should plainly see the manner in which they were intended.
“It is also a slider, not a flip-flop.”
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