BIG RAPIDS -- Police from several agencies are searching for a man who escaped out of police custody overnight in a stolen police car.

Around 2:30 a.m. an officer from Big Rapids tried to stop a car that was driving erratically. The driver of that car turned off his lights and tried to get away from police. The chase reached high speeds, with the fleeing vehicle eventually striking a deer and continuing on until it crashed into a tree.

At that time, police officers were able to arrest the man driving the car, and he was placed into the back of the police cruiser. While officers talked with someone who had been a passenger in the fleeing vehicle, the man climbed into the front of the police car and took off in the cruiser.

Police officers gave chase. They used stop sticks to shred the tires of the police car, but the driver continued on. Police eventually found the vehicle abandoned at the end of a one way road in the Mecosta County.

State police, sheriff's deputies and tribal police are all involved in the manhunt, though the suspect is not considered dangerous.