LEMON GROVE (CNS) - A man was jailed for stealing a deputy's patrol car at the Lemon Grove Patrol Station, sheriff's officials said Sunday.
Matthew Brian Porter, 44, was arrested Saturday evening and booked into the San Diego Central Jail on suspicion of evading deputies, theft of an emergency vehicle and fleeing police on a highway in the wrong direction, all felonies, according to jail records.
At about 9 p.m., a deputy at the Lemon Grove Patrol Station was unloading his patrol car at the end of his shift, according to Lt. Mike Rand of the San Diego County Sheriff's Department. A man then got into the deputy's patrol car and drove away.
Deputies spotted the vehicle leaving the station and began a pursuit. But they lost sight of it as it drove eastbound on Broadway.
A resident called 911 to report the abandoned patrol car in the 3500 block of Grove Street. Deputies located the vehicle and detained Porter, who allegedly admitted to stealing the patrol car.
Porter's bail on the evading charge was set at $50,000. He is scheduled to be arraigned on Wednesday.
