Schenectady, NY - At a Drug Bust - Drug Suspect Steals Marked Patrol Car and Gets Away
By DANIELLE FURFARO, Staff writer
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Last updated: 11:27 a.m., Tuesday, February 6, 2007
SCHENECTADY - The Schenectady Police Department is reviewing whether
department policy was broken after a patrol car that had been left unlocked and
running on a city street was taken for a joy ride.
The incident occurred at 11:20 a.m. Monday, when two patrol cars stopped in
front of a house on the 800 block of Emmett Street to search for a suspected
drug dealer who had allegedly made a drug deal with an undercover officer,
police said. The officers got out of the cars and went into the rear yard of the
house, where they arrested Daniel Colbert, 18, with allegedly selling imitation
crack cocaine, police said.
When the officers returned to the street with Colbert, they found one of the
patrol cars gone.
They found the car a few moments later at the corner of Lincoln Avenue and
Steuben Street, about four blocks away.
Officers followed footprints in the snow to a garage behind a Duane Avenue home,
where they found Frankie Joseph, 26, hiding. Joseph was charged with
third-degree grand larceny, a felony, and possession of stolen property,
a misdemeanor, police said.
Lt. Peter Frisoni declined to reveal the name of the officer who left the
patrol car running.
"Even if that officer is disciplined, I couldn't talk about that," Frisoni said.
Department protocol dictates that a patrol car should never be left running
unlocked, except during an emergency, Frisoni said.