President George W. Bush famously said, “There’s an old saying in…Texas…fool me once, shame on you…fool me twice…” The 2002 quote went viral because the President butchered the figure of speech before summarizing, “You can’t get fooled again.” We got the point, but apparently traffic police in his home state of Texas didn’t: A few years later they endured the embarrassment of having a suspect steal a cop car—twice.
Caught on camera: Suspect steal police car in 2006
On August 1, 2006, a blue pickup truck was pulled over by a Denton City Sheriff’s Deputy for reckless driving. An officer from Aubrey Police Department arrived as backup. They ordered the man out of his truck and had him stand beside it.
Then another driver pulled into the parking lot and asked the officers for directions—distracting both of them. That’s when the suspect bolted. He jumped into the Aubrey officer’s unmarked Ford Crown Victoria and took off. The Aubrey officer shouted, “Get back over here. Holy s—! Jesus!” But the man reversed the stolen cruiser across the parking lot. The officer drew his gun, yelling, “Get out of the car! Get out of the car!”
Instead, the suspect hit the gas. The Aubrey officer radioed in, “He stole my vehicle… A motor vehicle going northbound.” More patrol cars joined the pursuit. Then they realized the stolen cruiser had doubled back south. They made U-turns and chased it across train tracks and grassy areas before it smashed into a fence.
The suspect ran for the trees but dropped to the ground when officers surrounded him. Cops screamed, “Get on the ground now!” and handcuffed him.
2010: Handcuffed man steals police car—armed and dangerous
Four years later, Texas police found themselves in a similar embarrassing situation.
Donnie Lewis Knight, 40, led officers on a high-speed chase through Houston. After crashing a stolen Kia, Knight fled on foot. Police caught and cuffed him, locking him in the back of a patrol car.
That’s when things got worse. Knight slipped his cuffs under his legs, climbed through a partition, and drove off in the police car. “He is armed and dangerous,” Jacinto Police Sgt. Dennis Walker said. “We’re out there looking for him, trying to follow up on any leads.”
Knight didn’t just steal a police car—he also grabbed a loaded shotgun from the trunk. Police later found the abandoned car, but Knight was gone.
Both cases highlight how quickly suspects can turn the tables. From slipping cuffs to using distractions, criminals have shown they can steal a police car and lead officers on chaotic chases.
Locking cruisers, securing weapons, and keeping suspects restrained could’ve prevented these thefts. Otherwise, Texas police might get fooled again. You can see the wild footage of the 2006 chase in the video embedded below:
