New Glarus Police Car Stolen
By Steven Elbow
Found Sept 25, 2001 - NEW GLARUS, IOWA

An 18-year-old arrested for sleeping in a parked
vehicle led police on a cross-county chase Sunday
- in their own squad car.

New Glarus police say they responded to a report of a
man sleeping in a vehicle parked in the garage of a
private residence at about 6:15 a.m. Sunday. Officers
arrived at the scene and put Mitchell P. Ruegsegger 
in a squad car and then proceeded to question the
occupants of the residence, who called in the
complaint. Meanwhile, Ruegsegger managed to enter
the front seat of the squad car by going through 
the partition cage and drive off.

Police at the scene immediately notified area law
enforcement agencies to search for the squad car.
They said Ruegsegger used the car's police radio to
broadcast false information about his location.

At about 8:05 a.m., Iowa County authorities found the
stolen squad car unoccupied, with damage to the left
rear panel, on a road north of Hollandale, the result of
Ruegsegger's failure to negotiate a curve, police said.

Ruegsegger was eventually picked up in Dane County
at about 5:30 p.m. Sunday and taken to Green County
where he is being held on tentative charges of felony
bail jumping and car theft. Police say Ruegsegger may
also face charges for theft of the car he was sleeping
in when he was originally apprehended.


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