Police: Fleeing teen stole squad car

JACKSON, Mich., Dec. 4 (UPI) -- Authorities in Jackson County, Mich., said a 16-year-old girl being pursued by a police officer sped off in an unattended patrol car.

Blackman Township Public Safety Director Mike Jester said an officer responded to a domestic dispute early Monday morning and the 16-year-old, whose name was not released, fled on foot, the Jackson (Mich.) Citizen-Patriot reported Thursday.

Jester said the girl evaded the officer and entered an unattended police car that had been left unlocked. The dispatch tape from the evening recorded the girl using the car's radio to taunt the officer for "leaving his car unlocked."

The girl also used expletives to tell the female dispatcher to "shut up," the tape recorded.

Jester said the teenager drove the car for less than a quarter mile before crashing into another patrol car. He said both cars sustained heavy damage in the collision.

"She hit the car on purpose," Jester said.

The girl was taken to the Jackson County Youth Center on suspicion of assault with a dangerous weapon, malicious destruction of police property, unlawfully driving away an automobile and resisting, opposing and assaulting police.