Four more cadets have been arrested in connection with the thefts of police cruisers from two LAPD stations, and some of those cadets are believed to have made traffic stops on members of the public, Chief Charlie Beck announced Tuesday.
The new arrests were announced during a Police Commission meeting Tuesday morning, bringing the total number of cadets arrested to seven, reports KTLA.
The investigation comes after police learned two patrol vehicles were missing on June 14, and then officers spotted them being driven in tandem on streets in South L.A., prompting a nighttime pursuit. The drivers separated and then crashed at two different locations. One of the police officers who gave chase also crashed, officials said.
The three initially arrested cadets were suspected of evading police among other crimes; the new cadets were arrested on suspicion of "joyriding" in police vehicles, Beck said Tuesday.
One of the cadets became "expert" at accessing LAPD's vehicle check-out system and had a patrol vehicle for two weeks, Beck told reporters Tuesday.
"I really feel like a very disappointed father on Father's Day this past weekend," Beck told commissioners.