DWI suspect slips cuffs, steals cop car in joyride: NY police

Police on Long Island said they had to arrest a man twice on Friday after a suspected DWI driver gave officers the slip and got away with one of their cruisers.

Troopers first tracked down the 37-year-old driver around 5:30 a.m. after reports of property damage on the Southern State Parkway in Baylon, the New York State Police said.

The troopers spoke to the Copiague man and suspected he had been under the influence of drugs or alcohol, police said. Upon failing a field sobriety tests, the troopers placed the man under arrest and seat-belted him in the back of their patrol car.

Then, according to a NYSP release, the man "managed to slip his handcuffs to the front, freed himself from the seat belt, climbed into the front seat of the patrol vehicle and drove off."

The patrol car was eventually found about three miles away in West Babylon, police said.

The suspect, meanwhile, was tracked down to a nearby cemetery and place under arrest, again.

Police said he faces charges of grand larceny, criminal possession of stolen property, escape, resisting arrest and driving while intoxicated, among other charges.