Handcuffed Cruiser Thief Radioed for Help To Escape

A 22-year-old Indiana man who stole a police cruiser took the vehicle on a joyride and radioed dispatchers to ask how to get out of the handcuffs.

William Francis Blankenship III stole the Kouts Police cruiser on Tuesday, after an officer arrested him for driving 53 mph in a 35 mph zone. Blankenship stole the crusier, while the officer was searching his vehicle. The officer had noticed drug paraphernelia in Blankenship's vehicle, handcuffed him, and put him in the back seat of the cruiser, reports Indiana's Post-Tribune.

While driving the stolen squad, Blankenship used the police radio to ask how to get out of the handcuffs. He also asked for the location the cigarette lighter , reports the New York Daily News.

Police tracked the stolen squad using GPS devices in the officer's computer and cell phone until contact was suddenly cut off. When police found the squad at about 6:30 a.m. Wednesday it was partially submerged in about 10 feet of water in a detention pond in the area of 600 W. County Road 2200S in southern LaPorte County.