A man stole a Sacramento police cruiser on Friday and led officers on a chase that stretched more than 40 miles, according to NBC News. He was barefoot and shirtless when he took the car. He gave up peacefully when it was finally over.
The chase grew out of a much smaller call. Just after 12:30 p.m., Sacramento police were sent to a report of vandalism, where a woman said a man had chased her with a stick and thrown a bucket at her tire. Officers found the man, later identified as 28-year-old Isaac Paval, and chased him on foot across an open field. He got away from them, and that’s when he came across two parked police cars.
He tried the door on one cruiser, but it was locked. The next one had a window left open, so he reached in, unlocked it, and drove off. Over the radio, officers realized the bigger problem right away. Whoever had the car now had access to a police firearm.
From there, the stolen cruiser reached speeds of around 100 mph as it headed down Highway 99 and into Sacramento. The California Highway Patrol eventually took over the pursuit. It ended more than 40 miles from where it began, near Lodi, where Paval surrendered without incident, according to investigators.
How Does Someone Steal a Police Car?
Police cruisers are supposed to be locked when an officer steps away, even with the engine left running so the computer and radio stay on. A lot of departments use anti-theft systems that keep the car from being driven without the key nearby. None of that helped here. The cruiser the suspect climbed into had been left open, and once he was inside, he was gone.
The bigger worry wasn’t the car itself. A patrol car is basically a rolling toolkit, and that usually includes a firearm locked inside. Once the suspect drove off, officers had to assume he could reach a police weapon. That makes a pursuit far more dangerous than a typical stolen-car case.
What Happens Now?
The pursuit could have gone much worse. Paval never fired the police weapon, no one was hurt, and there were no crashes tied to the chase. Police have not released a full list of charges, but stealing a patrol car and running from officers tend to bring serious ones.
High-speed chases are dangerous for everyone on the road, which is why a lot of departments now have rules about when to back off. A stolen police car is one situation where officers are far less likely to let go, both because of the vehicle and the gun inside it. That helps explain why this one ran for more than 40 miles before it was over.