Lakeview, OR - Handcuffed Suspect Steals Police SUV - 30 Mile Chase - 90 MPH - STATE POLICE RAM STOLEN CRUISER - Rollover - Suspect Critical
Handcuffed Man Steals Oregon Police Car
Monday, March 26, 2007
LAKEVIEW, Ore. - An Idaho man is in critical condition after he was
involved in a rollover crash while driving a stolen police vehicle.
The Oregon State Police says the incident began when a Klamath County sheriff's
deputy stopped a Dodge Durango for speeding east of Klamath Falls.
The deputy learned that the vehicle had been stolen in Idaho, so they arrested
the three people in the Durango and placed them in separate police cars.
While an officer was away from his police SUV, a 20-year-old man slipped his
cuffed hands in front his body and climbed through a sliding window into the
driver's seat.
He drove right past the officers, sparking a 30-mile chase that would reach
speeds of 90 miles per hour.
Police put down a strip of spikes about five miles west of Lakeview, but the
man drove over them and kept going with a deflated tire.
An Oregon State Police sergeant ended the chase by intentionally ramming the
rear-quarter panel, sending the stolen police vehicle into a rollover crash.