CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM
A stolen police car was abandoned in a ditch yesterday morning about 30 yards off Anonui Street in Royal Kunia.
Stolen HPD car
found in ditchAn officer catches a suspect but
returns to find his car missing
At least one and possibly two suspects stole a marked police car in Salt Lake early yesterday after they ran from another car that had been reported stolen, police said.
The squad car was found about five hours later in a ditch along Anonui Street in Royal Kunia. The thief, or thieves, were gone.
Just before 2:34 a.m., an officer noticed a suspicious vehicle pulling into a driveway at 932 Ala Lilikoi St. A check of the license plate revealed that the car had been stolen.
After the car pulled into another driveway, the officer parked behind it and the three occupants got out and ran in three different directions, police said. The officer chased the driver, a 17-year-old Makiki youth, toward Salt Lake Shopping Center. The officer caught the boy and arrested him for suspicion of auto theft.
By the time backup police units arrived and the officer returned to where he parked his car, it was gone. The officer apparently left the keys in the car, which according to police is not standard procedure.
Police said the officer should have secured his vehicle, and could face sanctions.
Police officials are not sure whether one or both of the suspects took the police car.
An all-points bulletin went out for the missing white 1997 Ford Crown Victoria, license number HPD 615, and one of the suspects. The police car was found abandoned at 7:20 a.m. yesterday in a ditch in the Royal Kunia subdivision.
"Hopefully, it's still operable, and we'll be able to use it here," said Kalihi police Sgt. Lloyd Sanborn.
Sanborn said the teenager in custody appeared to have been drinking and therefore could not be questioned immediately after the arrest.
