Ahwatukee Foothills, Arizona - Man Steals Police Car - Tried to Run Over Officers - Crashes Police Car - Tasered
Injured man allegedly steals cop car
AHWATUKEE FOOTHILLS - A man who appeared to be disoriented stole and crashed
a police car after driving it toward officers, police said.
A 911 caller reported that the 26-year-old man, who has not yet been identified
by police, had abandoned his car at 3:30 a.m. Saturday in the middle of Pecos
Road near 24th Street, leaving the driver's side door open and the lights off,
police said.
The witness said the man got out of the car and began to climb a cliff on the
side of the road, police said. The witness reported then hearing a scream. Two
officers arrived at the scene, where a U.S. Postal Service semi-truck driver had
stopped and said the man was lying in a ditch, police said.
Officers found the man, who appeared extremely incapacitated, covered in blood
and managed to help him to lean against a patrol car, police said.
The officers became distracted when the U.S. Postal Service worker began
shouting at them, police said. During that time, the injured man jumped into
the driver's side of the patrol car and sped off.
One of the officers began to chase him, but the man turned the car around and
drove it at the officer's patrol car, police said.
Then the man drove off the road into the desert along a service road and crashed
the car off a bank where it sat at a 45-degree angle, police said.
The man stumbled out of the car after officers ordered him to surrender. He
struggled with officers, kicking one in the groin, authorities said. Police used
a Taser to subdue him and take him into custody; he continued to be
combative as paramedics tried to treat him, the officials said.