A suspect in the theft of a moving van allegedly stole a police car Saturday, leading to the unusual sight of one police car pursuing another.
The van had been reported stolen from unincorporated Snohomish County around 10:30 a.m. When police approached a vehicle that matched the description of the suspects' pickup in a McDonald's parking lot about an hour later, two men got out and fled.
Efforts were under way to track them with dogs when a woman told officers that men matching the suspects' descriptions were in her living room talking to her husband.
An officer tried to take the two men into custody, but one ran from the house and drove off in the patrol car that the officer had left running in the driveway.
With police in pursuit, the man tried to drive through a wooded area, crashed the police car into a tree, then ran away.
Police were investigating at this crash scene when residents returning to a nearby house came out again right away and reportedly told police, "Our blinds are closed. We never do that. Someone's inside."
Police discovered the 33-year-old Lynnwood man in an upstairs bed, covered with blankets and pretending to be asleep. Both suspects are in the Lynnwood Jail and face charges of car theft, burglary and outstanding felony warrants.