I had a reserve officer riding with me one night. We were attending to a psychiatric patient in a hospital ED who had tried suicide the night before, and had taken him into protective custody. He was not entirely cooperative.
When we uncuffed him to let him use the urinal, he made a break for it, running down a long corridor toward a fire door at the end. The RO was between me and him, and we were both in immediate foot pursuit down the hall when I suddenly noted a black, brick-like object skipping down the way with us, zig-zagging across the corridor as it bounced off the walls. I slowed to scoop it up as my partner and the individual we were pursuing made their exit through the fire door.
Of course, the object was a RG .38 revolver, that had broken loose from my partner's ankle rig as he ran. I shoved it in my pocket and resumed the chase (which ended uneventfully about half an hour later when the patient, who had given us the slip in the woods across the street, returned to us.)
Knowing what I know now, I'm grateful that gun didn't discharge any of the times it hit the walls. Incidentally, my Charter Arms Undercover 38 remained securely in place throughout that pursuit, and countless others.
