Handcuffed Burglary Suspect Steals Police Car [Video]

Fort Worth, TX — A man who was handcuffed and placed in the back of a police car somehow managed to escape — in the patrol car itself.

This sounds like something you’d see in a movie or television slapstick comedy, but it happened in real life and was caught on dash-cam video (see below).

The suspected was taken into custody by White Settlement, Texas, officers early Friday morning for allegedly burglarizing an antique store. Police cuffed him and put him in the back of vehicle; while they were taking information from the store owner, he hopped into the front seat and drove off. White Settlement is a northwestern suburb of Fort Worth.

The suspect “somehow got his cuffed hands in front of him and rolled down the window — even though the back windows are not supposed to roll down,” according to NBC 5 Dallas/Ft. Worth. “Unknown to us the back windows were still active so the suspect was able to hit the back window release to roll down the window and reach around and unlock the door from the outside,” a police spokesman said.

Officers, who didn’t realize immediately that one of their vehicles was stolen, pursued after 911 calls came in about an erratic driver in a police cruiser.

There was no mention of why an officer apparently left the keys in the ignition.

The police identified the suspect as Darren Porter, 41, who is still at large. The police later found the patrol car abandoned at a Fort Worth apartment complex about five miles away. In addition to the burglary charge, the suspect now faces charges of felony theft and escape.

Calling it a “bad situation,” the police department indicated it will be reviewing its arrest policies and procedures.

Watch videos (including the raw footage) of the burglary suspect escaping in the police cruiser:

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