SAN FRANCISCO - ATTORNEY INJURED STOPPING FUGITIVE- He may not be Dirty Harry, but the streets of San Francisco were a little bit safer this weekend after Rockdale County Public Schools attorney Jack Lance assisted Friday in apprehending an armed fugitive.
Lance, 58, severely injured his knee in attempting to tackle a suspect as he fled from San Francisco Police Department officers. In a phone interview from his hospital bed on Monday, he told the Citizen that he was scheduled to return home today. Lance said he had a short break during a conference he was attending at the San Francisco Hilton, and decided that he would take a walk down the famed Market Street. As he neared a Bank of America, Lance said he noticed "a man and a woman, scuffling in some way."
"I couldn't tell what was going on, for sure," he said. "They started moving away from me ... and then he stopped and turned and started up back toward me, and I could see the lady was really trying to stop him. I got a sense that he was in the wrong."
As the man tried to run past him, Lance said he dropped a bag of books, stuck out his right forearm and lunged, trying to knock the man to the ground. He failed to bring the man down, but managed to slow him down considerably.
The woman ran past Lance in hot pursuit, as he looked down at his own knee. "I knew I was in big trouble," he said. "My knee was split in two." Lance said he soon learned that the woman was an undercover police officer, and the suspect she was chasing was a man wanted in connection with an armed bank robbery. According to San Francisco Police Captain Gary Jimenez, his officers were lucky that Lance happened by when he did.
"Our officers were staking out a bank, expecting a visit ... and (the suspect) matched the description (of the man they were looking for). They went to talk to him, and they identified themselves as officers," he said. "He started running in front of the Bank of America, and as he ran, he threw a gun away. "(Lance) did delay the escape of the person, and the officers were able to capture him. ... Our officers think very highly of (Lance)." Jimenez added that the suspect had a violent history, and that the gun he dropped during the chase turned out to be stolen.
"We consider ourselves very lucky that he is in custody, and we surely appreciate the assistance," Jimenez said. "You've got a great citizen there, and we're hoping maybe we can give him a commendation." Following the incident, Lance was taken to St. Francis Hospital, where he underwent surgery on Saturday to repair the damage to his knee. Lance said his knee cap had been split in two, and the bone behind the cap was broken. Work was also done to repair his ham string, which was separated from the bone.
Doctors told Lance he could expect a six-month recuperation time. "I won't be playing any racquetball for a while, that's for sure," Lance said.
While his injuries were painful, he said there wasn't any question that he did the right thing.
"I would do it again, if it needed to be done," Lance said. He added that he was preparing to be released Monday afternoon, and he expected to catch a flight with his wife, Glenda, back to Atlanta today. Lance has represented the Rockdale school system for 24 years, and has worked as the in-house attorney for the last six years. He and his wife are longtime Rockdale residents and currently live in the Deer Run subdivision. They have three grown daughters.
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