A 22-year-old San Diego woman took a joy ride in a stolen police car Friday night, leading officers on a long, high-speed pursuit and ultimately crashing the vehicle.
According to the San Diego Police Department, the suspect – Felicitas Flores – stole an officer’s parked vehicle in the 300 block of 17th Street in downtown’s East Village area just before 11:30 p.m.
Flores took off in the patrol car, hopping onto northbound Interstate 5 and leading police on a pursuit all the way to the North County.
The tires of the vehicle were spiked in Carlsbad, but Flores continued driving through Oceanside until she pulled into a rest stop. As officers attempted to arrest her, she collided head-on into another police vehicle, the SDPD said. She also rammed into two California Highway Patrol cars.
The stolen police car stalled out and Flores was taken into custody.
“CHP did take over the negotiations to get her out of the car,” explained SDPD Lt. Steven Shaw. “She did not want to get out of the vehicle. Eventually, she opened up the driver side door. She started to get out of the car then she started to get back in. It afforded our officers the opportunity to go up to the car and physically take her out of the car.”
Flores was booked into Las Colinas Detention Facility on at least nine charges, including grand theft auto, driving under the influence of alcohol, being under the influence of a controlled substance and evading officers. She’s also facing counts of assault with a deadly weapon.
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The incident is under investigation, with officers trying to determine how Flores was able to steal the police vehicle in the first place. It is unknown if the vehicle was left unlocked.
