MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Southaven Police arrested a man whom they say stole a patrol car while being taken in to custody.
They said they responded to a drug call on Booneville Drive when they spotted Michael Larson, 37, and found him to have active warrants out of Horn Lake.
Police went to take him in to custody and cuffed him, but said he somehow got away and stole the police SUV instead.
He drove it nearly 20 miles to Frayser where he crashed it on Marsh Avenue. Larson then fled on foot to a home about two blocks away, Memphis Police said.
Memphis Police was notified of the stolen vehicle and used MPD’s Air Support Unit to search for it.
The vehicle was located by a Shelby County deputy in the 800 block of Marsh Avenue around 1 p.m. after concerned neighbors called Memphis police about it.
No one was inside, but a police-issued rifle was still inside the vehicle.
Police then received information that the suspect fled to a nearby home belonging to Justin Lockhart. Larson was found hiding inside the home without handcuffs.
“All the way from Mississippi. I think he need to go to jail. If you stole a police car, if you stole period, you need to go to jail. People work hard for what they got, and you stole a police car,” neighbor Aletha Holmes said.
Larson was charged with theft of property and resisting official detention.
Lockhart was charged with being an accessory after the fact.
