- An Arkansas man was caught stealing a police car moments after he was released from the county jail.
- Cordell Coleman, 33, had been released from custody on Thursday after a public intoxication arrest.
- After he was caught driving away in an officer’s car, Coleman was charged again with felony theft.
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An Arkansas man was caught stealing and driving off in a police car just moments after he was released from a county jail, according to local news reports.
Cordell Coleman, 33, from Little Rock, Arkansas, had been released from custody early Thursday morning following a public intoxication arrest a day earlier, according to public records.
A surveillance camera outside Pulaski County jail recorded Coleman leaving the building and entering an unlocked 2018 Ford Explorer that had been parked near a sally port.
The car belonged to a police officer who had momentarily stepped out to assist with the booking of another prisoner.
“I entered the jail to process the prisoner,” the unidentified cop wrote in a report published on the legal website The Smoking Gun. “After completing the process, I returned to discover my patrol vehicle had been taken.”
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Police tracked the vehicle to an apartment complex in North Little Rock, according to the report, where they eventually also found Coleman. He was arrested and brought back to prison.
After Coleman was handcuffed and placed in the back of a police cruiser, dashcam footage captured a police officer asking him: “What kind of decision-making you doing tonight, man? Why you doing that?” according to The Smoking Gun.
Coleman was charged with felony theft and is being held on a $25,000 bond.
