Joyride in police car ends in arrest, story for the ages 

By HANNAH MITCHELL

HICKORY- Policing 101: Don't leave the keys in the ignition of your
patrol car.

Hickory police Officer Brian Adams learned that lesson too late last
weekend when he and several other officers responded to a complaint
from a U.S.70 motel about a man dancing in the parking lot in his
underwear.

"I'm not making this up," said Capt. Merl Hamilton. "He wasn't a very
good dancer. He was just finishing up his shimmy when we arrived."

Hamilton described what happened next:

The officers decided the man wasn't a serious threat. So they told him
to put his clothes on, and all the officers except Adams left the motel.

Adams had checked the man's criminal record on his hand-held radio
and learned he had been convicted on a child molestation charge in
another county.

While the man went into his motel room to get dressed, Adams walked
a few steps away and turned his back to radio the police station again.
He wanted to check if the man was listed with the N.C. Sex Offender
Registration Program as required by law.

Turning his back coat him.

The dancing man, now fully clothed and Carrying his baggage, slipped
into Adams' 2000 Crown Victoria patrol car, where the key was still
in the ignition. He then drove out of the motel parking lot and onto 
U.S.70 while Adams talked on the radio, unaware of what was
happening.

"He turned on every light in the car," Hamilton said, "but he couldn't
figure out how to turn on the siren."

The patrol car didn't have enough gas for the man to make his escape,
so he returned to the motel several minutes later, blue lights flashing.

Another police officer passing by in his own patrol car motioned to
his supposed colleague to turn off the blue lights, because officers
sometimes forget to.

Adams, still on his radio, saw his car Corning and realized he'd been
had. He called for backup.

The officers charged former Taylorsville resident Robert Earl Burney
Jr., 32, with larceny of a motor vehicle.

As for Adams, he couldn't be reached for comment last week because
he was out of town for training. His colleagues in blue won't let 
him forget the incident anytime soon, Hamilton said.


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