Suspected burglar drives off in deputy's patrol car

A handcuffed burglary suspect managed to drive off in a patrol car this morning in SeaTac and remains on the loose, according to the King County Sheriff's Office.

Around 5:30 a.m., employees arrived at work at a smoke shop at South 200th Street and International Boulevard and found a burglar inside the building, said sheriff's Sgt. John Urquhart.

The employees struggled with the man until police arrived minutes later; officers arrested the man, handcuffed his hands behind his back and placed him in the backseat of a deputy's patrol car, he said.

While the 47-year-old deputy was out of the car, the suspect managed to wiggle his arms in front of him and apparently pried open a divider, crawling into the front seat and driving off, Urquhart said.

The suspect was spotted minutes later on southbound Interstate 5 by a sheriff's detective sergeant who was on her way to work at the Regional Justice Center in Kent, he said. She saw the cruiser pass her, weave through traffic and exit onto Kent-Des Moines Road.

She followed the vehicle because she intended to report the officer's errant driving to a supervisor, Urquhart said.

The detective realized the driver wasn't an officer when she saw the burglary suspect abandon the patrol car in a parking lot and run off. She did not pursue him because she wasn't wearing a police vest and didn't know if the man was armed, Urquhart said.

Despite an intensive search, the man -managed to slip away, Urquhart said.

The man was not armed, nothing was taken from the patrol car and he did not have access to any of the deputy's weapons, he said.

It is not unusual for deputies to leave their patrol cars running when interviewing witnesses or gathering evidence in order to keep their police radios and air conditioning on, Urquhart said.

The deputy, a 7-year veteran, "didn't do anything wrong -- he just got flummoxed," he said.

"He's a real good officer with a clean record" but the incident was "pretty embarrassing for him," prompting teasing from coworkers over losing his patrol car, Urquart said.