A 42-year-old man who had been arrested, handcuffed and left waiting inside a Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office patrol car last night (June 20) at a Festus gas station allegedly managed to drive away with the vehicle.
However, the suspect was found today (June 21) in Washington County and taken back into custody, authorities reported.
The suspect, previously from O’Fallon, had recently lived in Jefferson County – in Hillsboro and Festus, said Capt. Gary Higginbotham of the Sheriff’s Office.
He said the incident began at 9:30 p.m. at Express Mart, 801 Collins Drive, where a deputy noticed the suspect acting suspiciously and found that he was wanted on a felony warrant from St. Charles County.
Higginbotham said the suspect allegedly made off with the patrol car while the deputy was speaking to the suspect’s girlfriend, who the suspect had previously called to come to the gas station to pay for gas he had put in his vehicle.
The girlfriend was trying to make arrangements with the deputy to take responsibility for the suspect’s vehicle after his arrest when the suspect escaped, Higginbotham said.
He said the suspect had been handcuffed with his hands behind his back and left sitting in the front seat of the patrol car.
“He slipped his cuffs around to the front – must be pretty limber. The keys were in the car. This all took place under 25 seconds,” Higginbotham said.
The suspect was found at 12:10 a.m. today near Providence Road off Hwy. 47 in Washington County and was taken into custody after he allegedly resisted arrest again, Higginbotham said.
He said the patrol car was slightly damaged.
Higginbotham said this afternoon that the suspect had not yet been charged in connection with the theft but was being held at Jefferson County Jail on previous outstanding warrants.