'A Team' member ordered to stop chasing stolen cars after tip offs on social media

Citizen’s group helps track down and recover stolen vehicles

File image of car in rear view mirror. (iStock/Getty Images)

An ‘A Team’ member has promised to stop chasing stolen cars based on social media tip offs in order to avoid jail.

Floyd Hall has been involved in a court case since he was charged with reckless driving in August 2017 for what police say was a high-speed chase but which Hall contends only involved him following a vehicle.

The 54-year-old, from Alaska, is part of a citizens’ group called the “A Team” which relies on tip offs from social media to recover stolen vehicles.

He was handed a 30-day suspended prison sentence and a $500 (£378) fine after pleading guilty to one count of reckless endangerment in relation to the incident in 2017, the Anchorage Daily News reported on Saturday.

Hall is allowed to remain involved with the A Team, but the terms of his three-year probation sentence include a pledge to refrain from chasing anyone driving a suspected stolen vehicle.

Joshua Fink, Hall’s lawyer, said prosecutors initially requested that the defendant not be allowed to “chase, follow or otherwise pursue” suspected stolen vehicles during his probation, but agreed to scale it back to simply “chasing”.

The difference is the “high rate of speed,” he said.

Hall said the A Team previously broached the possibility of a partnership with police without success.

Anchorage Police Captain Sean Case said that while police appreciate information from the public and regularly partner with community watch groups, they draw a line when citizens might harm themselves by becoming involved with suspects.

“You don’t know [a suspect’s] criminal history, you don’t know how violent they are, you don’t know if they’re armed,” he said.

The prosecution declined to comment.

Additional reporting by Associated Press