A crosstown joyride in a stolen Salt Lake City police car on Christmas Eve ended with a crash and the arrest of the alleged driver.
At around 10:45 p.m. Friday night, a Salt Lake City police officer leaving the Gail Miller Resource Center, near 300 West and 1700 South, noticed their patrol vehicle was missing, according to a police news release.
Police said they were able to track the stolen police car with the help of Salt Lake City dispatch, and while doing so, learned that the vehicle had crashed along Foothill Driver near Interstate 80 — about seven miles crosstown from the homelessness shelter where the vehicle was first reported missing.
Once finding the vehicle, a 48-year-old man initially refused to get out of the car, according to police, and then was arrested by law enforcement officers from Salt Lake City and the Utah Highway Patrol.
The man was booked into Salt Lake County jail on suspicion of several charges, including drunkenness, vehicle theft and not having a valid driver’s license.
Police reported that the vehicle was recovered 12 minutes after they first noticed it was missing.
The man was allegedly able to steal the officer’s car after a “key fob, which locks the vehicle and keeps it running securely, malfunctioned after the officer locked the doors.”
(Salt Lake City Police Department) A Salt Lake City police car that was stolen and crashed near Foothill Drive and Interstate 80 on Dec. 24, 2021.