10/28/15 Hazard, KY – Traffic Stop For Walmart Shoplifter – Man Runs And Jumps In Hazard Police Cruiser – Ditches Police Cruiser – Escaped

October 28, 2015

wkyt.com

Officials with the Hazard Police Department say it was a “first.”

Police got a call Friday night about shoplifting at Walmart in Hazard. When they arrived, the suspect 46-year-old Carlis Hall, was getting into a car.

Officers say they tried to make a traffic stop, when Hall took off running. The officers followed Hall. The man then turned around and stole the police cruiser.

“When you don’t know the good guys from the bad guys when you’re looking for somebody, it made it a really tense situation,” Hazard Police Department’s Joseph Engle said. “We didn’t know who was who that night.”

Engle said officers are supposed to lock their cruisers and take the keys with them. However, he said the officer assisting was in a hurry to run after Hall.

“The problem we faced that night is the subject had one of our cruisers, so he could listen to all of our radio communication that night,” Engle said. “He had our rifles. He had our weapons. Everything was in that vehicle, so it was a bad situation.”

Hall ended up ditching the cruiser and it was recovered by police.

Officers could not find him the night of the incident. They issued a warrant for Hall’s arrest.

Hall was arrested Monday and faces a laundry list of charges including theft of a vehicle, theft of a firearm, shoplifting, and fleeing or evading police.