A homeless man is accused of stealing a Florida police cruiser with a K-9 inside and crashing the unit into multiple vehicles over the weekend.
The incident happened shortly before 9:30 p.m. when a 20-year-old man—identified as Menylek Jarrett—allegedly through a rock through the glass door of a cash checking store in Winter Haven in an apparent attempted burglary, WTVT-TV reports. Entering the store while at least three employees were still inside, Jarrett then threw another rock at a teller window, which didn't shatter.
Jarrett tried to break in to the teller area, but when he couldn't gain entry, he fled the store. When Winter Haven police arrived, they didn't know that Jarrett was no longer in the cash checking store, and they went inside to investigate the scene.
While the officers were inside, Jarrett smashed one of the police cruiser's driver side window and sped away in the vehicle. Logan, a K-9 with the department, was still inside the unit when Jarrett took off.
As he fled, Jarrett crashed into several vehicles, damaging the cruiser to the point that it couldn't be driven. The suspect jumped out of the vehicle and tried to break in to two other vehicles—including another cruiser—as he fled to a park.
"He actually tried to get into that officer’s car—on the passenger side of the car—but wasn’t able to," said Police Chief David Brannan. "Then it looked like he was going to get into a citizen’s car when the officers started to chase him through the park."
Police apprehended Jarrett, and he faces multiple charge, including tampering with a police K-9.
