08/25/14 Akron, OH – Traffic Stop – Female Prisoner In Back Seat – Male Jumps Into Police Cruiser – Steals It – Officer Injured Trying To Stop Moving Cruiser

August 25, 2014

ohio.com

An Akron police officer was treated for injuries early Saturday after trying to regain control of a cruiser that was stolen during a traffic stop.

The cruiser was eventually recovered, and the suspect was arrested.

Shortly after 2 a.m., an officer stopped a vehicle at South Broadway and Cedar streets for a traffic violation.

The female driver told the officer she did not have an operator’s license; she was arrested and placed in the back seat of the cruiser.

The driver, informed that her car was going to be towed, asked the officer to retrieve her cellphone from her vehicle.

As the officer walked up to the female’s car to retrieve the cellphone, a male jumped into the cruiser and drove off with the female prisoner in the back seat.

The officer radioed out that her cruiser was stolen as she ran after the vehicle.

She reached into the driver’s window and tried to stop the male.

As the male turned the corner onto East Exchange Street, the officer was knocked to the ground.

Paramedics treated her at the scene for shoulder, hip and knee injuries.

The male finally stopped the cruiser near West Exchange and Cedar streets.

He initially refused to obey responding officers’ commands to exit the cruiser. Once he did get out, he continued to resist the officers and was subdued with a stun gun.

Officers arrested Shawn P. Douglas Jr., 19, of Columbus. He was charged with felonious assault, unlawful restraint, resisting arrest, obstructing official business, failure to comply with police orders, escape and disrupting public service. He was booked into the Summit County Jail.

The female prisoner in the back seat of the cruiser was not injured.