Handcuffed suspect steals Henderson police car

A burglary suspect had Henderson police scrambling Wednesday morning after he escaped from the back of a patrol car, stole the vehicle and abandoned it several miles away.

The incident started about 8:30 a.m. after police received reports of a home burglary on Sea Holly Way, near Wigwam and Green Valley parkways, Henderson police spokesman Todd Rasmussen said. An 82-year-old woman called police and said someone was frantically ringing her doorbell and pounding on her door, a tactic used by burglars to determine whether residents are home, Rasmussen said.

When officers arrived, three suspects near the home fled. Police caught and arrested one suspect, an unidentified man who said he was 19 years old, Rasmussen said.

The suspect, who had his hands cuffed behind him and was in the back seat of the patrol car, asked police to return to the crime scene to retrieve a sweat shirt he had left there.

Rasmussen said police often bring suspects back to a crime scene after a foot pursuit, if the suspect asks, to build a better case.

"Not only do they get the property back for them, they can also put in the report that he voluntarily went back to the scene of the crime," he said.

After retrieving the shirt, officers left the car running as they talked outside, he said.

The suspect then squeezed through a small opening in the plastic-glass divider, slipped his cuffed hands under his feet and in front of his body, and drove off in the car, Rasmussen said.

The opening the suspect escaped through was only about one square foot, Rasmussen said.

"I mean, it's really small," he said. "Officers told me he was pretty thin."

The divider, which officers use to talk to suspects, can normally only be opened from the front of the car.

But somehow the suspect managed to pry it open from the rear, he said.

Police tracked the car's GPS location and found the vehicle several miles away, parked at a shopping complex on Arroyo Grande Boulevard, he said. The car was found only a few minutes after it had been stolen.

The suspect was located and arrested -- again -- in a residential area near the shopping complex about 10:30 a.m.

Police have not confirmed the suspect's identity and will not release his mug shot, in case he's a juvenile. He will be booked as a "John Doe" on a variety of charges, including burglary and grand larceny.

The other two burglary suspects have not been arrested.

Contact reporter Mike Blasky at mblasky@review
journal.com or 702-383-0283.