Drunk Steals Patrol Car, Chagrined Cops Say
Officer Had Stopped to Help Men Walking Along Highway
By Joe Beaird - Nov.10, 2000
CAMBRIDGE, Ontario (APBnews.com) - A Canadian police officer
tried to help two drunken, middle-aged men off a busy freeway
and one of them thanked her by stealing the patrol car,
police said today.
The men, whose names were not released, are age 55 and 61 and
live in the Toronto area.
The 55-year-old accused of stealing the police car is
charged with numerous offenses, including impaired driving
and theft over $5,000. The 61-year-old has been charged
with being intoxicated in public, which carries a $55 fine.
Car stolen
Just before midnight Wednesday, an officer from the Cambridge
detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police spotted the two
men wearing business suits walking "dangerously close" to the
westbound lanes of Highway 401 - one of Canada's busiest
roadways, said Sgt. Dave Durant, a police spokesman.
Assuming the men's car had broken down, the officer - whose
name is not being released to spare her further embarrassment
-- stopped to see if they needed assistance, Durant said.
As she secured the 55-year-old man into the back seat of the
cruiser, the other man bolted away into the woods alongside
the road.
The officer pursued the older man into the woods and captured
him, then came back to the road "only to discover that her
police car was gone," Durant said. The 55-year-old man had
driven off with it, he said.
Police arrived shortly and took off in pursuit of the squad car,
which was found abandoned minutes later.
Man found hiding in bushes
The Waterloo Regional Police canine unit, led by the dog Buck,
tracked down the missing 55-year-old man hiding behind bushes
about 200 yards from the abandoned cruiser, according to Constable
Al Vandyken. The cruiser was not damaged.
Police said stealing a police car is an extreme way to avoid a
public intoxication charge.
"To see what they're facing now, it's kind of absurd," Durant
said.
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