Alabama stolen cop car chased at speeds of up to 115 MPH
Thursday, May 26, 2005
By GUY BUSBY and SUSAN DAKER – Staff Reporters
A man stole a Foley police car and eluded arrest for five hours Wednesday before authorities caught up with him three miles from the Alabama-Florida line, capping a chase on Interstate 10 at speeds up to 115 mph, police said.
Donald Todd Hansard, 36, of Gulf Shores was arrested at about 8:15 p.m. at the 63-mile marker on eastbound I-10, said Lt. David White, chief investigator for the Foley Police Department.
Police radio reports said that the stolen car was traveling at speeds of up to 115 mph.
The high-speed, chase began when Loxely police spotted the stolen car headed west on the I-10 Bayway but lost it, Alabama State Trooper spokesman Spencer Collier said. Then Spanish Fort police spotted it heading back east on the Causeway on U.S. 90 to Daphne where it entered I-10 eastbound and State Troopers took over the chase.
It ended about 30 minutes later when the driver's-side front tire blew out and the suspect surrendered without incident, Collier said.
The pursuit began about 3 p.m. Wednesday when Hansard escaped with the car as he was being taken to the Foley City Jail, White said. The officer driving the car got out of the vehicle leaving Hansard handcuffed and shackled in the back seat.
"The suspect was somehow able to gain control of the vehicle and drove off," White said.
Hansard had managed to shed his handcuffs but was still wearing leg shackles when he was arrested, White said.
White said the unmarked unit did not have a partition dividing the front and back seats.
A statement issued Wednesday evening by the Foley Police Department did not identify the officer who was driving the car before it was stolen.
White said Hansard was arrested on 17 felony burglary charges before the escape. Following the chase, he was additionally charged with two counts of second-degree escape, one count of first-degree theft of property and driving away from a gas station without paying for fuel. White said Hansard topped off the tank of the stolen vehicle at a gas station in Magnolia Springs.
While some radio bulletins sent out to area police departments described Hansard as possibly armed and dangerous, White said no guns were in the police car when it was stolen.
The theft is the third time in recent years that someone has stolen a police car in Baldwin County. In 2003 and 2002, Loxley police cars were stolen. Both cars were later recovered and suspects arrested, according to reports.